


Bouncing Off Clouds

by OurImpavidHeroine



Series: A Precarious Family Legacy or: How the Beifongs Got Their Groove Back [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-15 14:58:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3451310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OurImpavidHeroine/pseuds/OurImpavidHeroine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of vignettes, from Lin Beifong's POV. Starting directly after "Honeymoon."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tea and Sympathy

Fuck me but Mako is high-strung with the baby. What did he think I was going to do, drop her on her head? Forget about her and leave her in a park somewhere? I realize it's been nigh on fifty years since I've been in close contact with any toddlers but I think I can be trusted to make sure she would still be alive after Mako and Wu came back from their honeymoon. Not that you'd think so the way he got his damn shorts in a twist about it. 

Asami and Korra dropped Naoki and me off at my mother's old place right after the wedding, since Mako and Wu were leaving directly for their trip. I sold the house to Wu a year or so back. I wasn't getting any use out of it; my grandparents bought it for my mother when she got pregnant with me. I have no idea why; did they think she was going to somehow find herself a nice husband, move into a nice part of town and act like a nice little Beifong should? Shit! My mother had been a lost cause for years at that point. She and I rattled around the fucking house by ourselves until Su came along when I was six, and by the time Su was sixteen she was gone and I had moved out and my mother left Republic City not long after and there it sat, empty. It's not like we lived any kind of a conventional life in the damn thing - decor was not, as they say, one of my mother's strong suits, and it must have been a pain in the ass for her to use public transportation to get to and from the station every day, the woman certainly didn't drive. For the life of me I can't figure out why she stayed there. Probably just to be contrary and cause a ruckus among the upper class and oh-so-scandalized neighbors, if I know my mother. Hell, it's not like my mother cooked or cleaned, either - we were a strictly take-out or go-out kind of family, and while there was a cleaning woman that came in a couple of times a month there was nobody keeping an eye on Su or me. We spent a fair amount of time out on the Island with Katara, truth to be told. In many ways, Katara felt more like a mother to me than my own mother did. I felt guilty about that for years. Years! I don't feel guilty about it any longer. I was just a child. My mother was responsible for her own choices.

It's not that Mom didn't love us, in her own way. I know she did. She just had no idea how to actually mother two little girls. It was about more than fun times. We had plenty of fun times! But she didn't discipline, she didn't give any boundaries and the only way we got her attention is when we forcibly took it - usually from each other. Good Girl Lin and Bad Girl Su. One thing I will give her credit for is that she taught us to be fiercely independent and to always come out fighting. Nobody fucks with a Beifong girl, and that includes Opal, oath of nonviolence notwithstanding. I would not trifle with my niece. 

We've talked, Su and me, about her own kids and what went wrong there. With Junior, specifically. Su went the opposite direction from Mom, smothered those kids until they could no longer breathe. It's no wonder that Junior was struggling to get free of Zaofu. Not that I'm excusing what he did. Junior's a little shit. Sorry, Su, but there it is. I visit him once or twice a month in prison here for Su and Baatar's sake, but he's full of self-pity and entitlement and every time I go there I end up wanting to do nothing more than kick his ass into next week. I like the rest of her kids, though. Opal's a fantastic girl, although spirits help me, I just do not know what she sees in Bolin. Well. That's not fair, I guess. Bolin has a good heart, I know, and is loyal to a fault. Not the brightest star in the sky, but I guess you can't have it all. She loves him, though, and he just as clearly loves her and treats her well, so there it is. The twins are good kids, too. Su got what she deserved with Wei, he's a hellraiser, that one. Nothing like Junior, though; just a lot of energy with a little too much charm and temper. Just like his mother, which is a source of endless amusement to me. Wing's a nice kid. Reminds me of his father, solid. Kind. He's pretty devoted to Wu's former secretary. I don't know Nuo very well but I do know Wu thinks the absolute world of her. For a wonder, Su likes her as well, which surprises me. I wouldn't have pegged Su as a very good mother-in-law to any girl one of her boys brought home - she's a damn platypus bear mother - but she and Nuo seemed to hit it off from the get go. Well. If Harmonic Convergence brought about new airbenders then I guess it could provide Su with a daughter-in-law that wouldn't blow up a city dealing with her mommy issues.

Huan is probably my favorite. Just says what he thinks, does what he wants. Not in a rebellious sense, just because that's how he is. Can't say I'm all that fond of some of his artwork, but the thing is, Huan could give a fuck if anyone likes his artwork or not. I can respect that. I see him more than I used to - he used to never leave Zaofu but he's a fairly frequent visitor here now. He usually stays with Mako and Wu, I know he and Wu are pretty tight. It's not like he can stay out at the Island, not with little Miss Ikki there. Oh, Tenzin. I don't think he's got the first clue as to what's coming with that girl. He's so busy keeping an eye on Meelo's shenanigans and working with Jinora (she's certainly going to lead the Air Nomads after he's gone, I don't think anyone questions that) that Ikki slips right through the cracks. Which is how she likes it. That girl is another who does exactly what she likes exactly when she likes it, and she's got her eye set on Huan. Raava in a teapot, I hope she waits to go after him until she's at least a little older. But I'm not holding my breath. She's nearly fifteen, that girl, and I think most people mistake her smiling and carefree attitude for some sort of airbender laissez faire. I knew her grandfather, though, and I knew him well. People often mistook Aang for being laid back or even childish. They usually learned the hard way that what Aang wanted he damn well got, and his granddaughter, out of all of those kids, takes after him the most. That whole island is watching Meelo without noticing Typhoon Ikki gathering velocity just out of sight. That being said, it's pretty clear to me that Pema, at least, is well aware of the situation. Well. At the risk of sounding like a bitter old bitch, Pema should know all there is to know about getting the older man she wants.

Fuck it. I'm a little tired of the whole bitter old bitch routine. I love my mother - I do, Raava knows I do - but I'm not all that thrilled with the idea of living out my last days alone and nasty in the dirty swamp because I can't be bothered to try to get along with anyone. So, let me rephrase: Pema is a good mother and I am glad to note that she's very aware and keeping a sharp eye on the whole Ikki and Huan situation. There. That didn't kill me. Much.

Personally, I look forward to seeing what happens when Typhoon Ikki collides with the impenetrable and tenacious rock that is Huan Beifong. I'd just like to give it a few more years first.

The front door opened as I walked up the path and LoLo came out. LoLo was the firebender Izumi had sent to stay with Mako's aunt and uncle when Naoki was living with them and first started throwing fire. He was in his mid-to-late forties, as near as I could guess; about my height or slightly shorter, wiry build, shoulder-length hair knotted neatly back Fire Nation style, pleasant baritone voice when he chose to use it. He wasn't the silent type or anything, but not much of an idle chatterer, either, and spirits know I can appreciate that. He'd served under Izumi's boy Iroh in the United Republic's Navy, but an accident on board had torn up his knee. He was still mobile, but slower than he had been, and they'd given him an honorable discharge from the Navy itself. He knew Bumi, too, had served under him for a few years before Bumi retired. Bumi put in a good word for him as well. He'd come with Naoki here to Republic City for what was supposed to be a week or two of transition time as she was moving in with Mako and Wu. According to Mako, Wu had tried to cook them dinner the night before LoLo was to leave; LoLo had taken one look at it, ordered Wu out of the kitchen and proceeded to fix one of the best meals that either one of them had ever had. Apparently LoLo's parents had both been chefs at the Royal Palace under Zuko and LoLo had served his time in the Navy as a cook as well. That was a year ago. Wu had done some renovations off of the kitchen so that he could have his own rooms without needing to travel up and down the stairs and that's the story of LoLo. LoLo wasn't even his name, for the love of Raava. LoLo was what two year old Naoki had called him, and LoLo he stayed. 

Leave it to Wu to have a banged up retired Navy man as a nanny. Between him and Qi, the street kid that drove Wu everywhere, they made quite a household. I'll give LoLo credit, though. He cooked like a dream, was a natural with Naoki and kept that house running like it was one of the ships he had served on. I asked Mako one time how exactly it had come about that LoLo stayed instead of heading back to the Fire Nation, and he threw his hands up into the air and told me that he had no fucking idea. Which is what living with Wu is like all the time, I'm pretty sure. Well. It's good for Mako. This way he can spend his time getting all broody over Wu and the baby instead of worrying over who would be making dinner and doing the laundry, which makes for a happier household, I'll lay yuan. Because we all know it certainly wasn't going to be Wu doing the laundry. Spirits help us all if he tried to cook.

"Her pajamas are next to her bed," he said quietly, as he held the door for me. "You want to do it, or would you rather I did it?"

"I used to wrestle my kid sister in and out of her clothes," I answered. "It's been a few years, but I can give it a whirl."

He nodded. "I'll be in the kitchen when you're done," he said, and shut the door behind me.

I took her upstairs and did manage to get her into her pajamas. I know she had bows in her hair at the beginning of the evening, but Raava herself only knew where they were now. I wasn't bothering with teeth or hands or anything like that. She'd survive one night without it. I tucked her into her bed and, since no one was looking, gave her a little kiss. I'm fond of the girl. Fierce little thing, got that typical firebender temper. I appreciate a girl with a little spice to her.

LoLo was making tea in the kitchen. "She settled?" he asked.

"I managed," I said, dryly. How many nights had I put Su to bed? More nights than my mother had, for sure.

He gestured at the kitchen table and I took a seat. He's got the kitchen the way he likes it now - moved things around, made it his own. There's a formal dining room, but they rarely eat in there. Wu says it gives him flashbacks. Instead we usually sit at the big wooden table here in the kitchen that LoLo uses for everything. LoLo and Qi always joined Wu and Mako for meals. LoLo makes extra servings of whatever he's making - he still cooks like he's onboard a ship - and Wu and Qi and Naoki usually take it to the park across the street where a lot of the street kids hang out and pass it around. In return, none of those kids let anyone lay a finger on either Wu or Naoki. They treat that baby like the princess she would have been if Wu hadn't abdicated. Mako can't stand it, I know - he's genuinely nervous that Wu or the baby will get rolled - but I've seen them at it. Those kids respect Wu. (Not to mention I am pretty sure Qi's got knives in unexpected places and knows how to use them as well. Yumi's done some training with Qi.) If I thought there was any danger to either Wu or the baby I'd put my foot down. But I don't. 

LoLo sat down and stretched his leg out, with a grimace. "Knee's acting up a bit tonight," he said, at my look.  

"You ought to ask Korra to take a crack at it. She's got some chops as a waterhealer, learned from the best. She doesn't stand on ceremony, she'd be happy to help, I know." 

He chuckled. "Guess I'm still not used to the idea that sometimes the Avatar comes over for dinner."  The tea kettle whistled, and he went to stand up. I waved him down.

"Sit, I've got it."

He raised a hand in thanks. "So how much older than your kid sister are you? That's the metal clan Beifong, right?"

I nodded, and poured. "She's six years younger than me. It was just her and me, in this house, once upon a time. Well, and my mother, when she was here. Never had a father around, though. What about you? Got any siblings?"

"I'm the oldest of nine."

"Nine!"

He shook his head, amused. "My mother used to say that the moment my father undid his pants she'd catch pregnant."

That got a laugh out of me. "No wonder you've got a sure hand with kids."

"Yeah, when there are nine of you, you end up changing a lot of diapers. Never did end up having any kids of my own, though."

"Did you want any?" I put the tea cups and the teapot down on the table.

He shrugged. "Not really. I wasn't opposed to kids or anything, but I ran off to the Navy when I was seventeen and I just ended up sticking it out there. I've got two ex-wives, though."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Too much time on the ship, not enough time with them. I never did want to settle down much, and I picked the kind of woman who wanted a husband at home. Picked that kind of woman twice. You'd have thought I'd learned the first time."

I sighed. "Yeah, I hear that. I wasn't actively opposed to kids myself, but I didn't want them with the man who wanted them with me."

He cocked his head, and poured us both a cup of tea. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Well. So I guess you might know that Tenzin and I dated for years, right?"

"It's not exactly a secret."

I snorted. "Not even close. Well, it was an off and on kind of thing when we were younger - he spent a lot of time with his father, Aang, and they traveled a fair amount, so he wasn't always in Republic City. And later, after Aang died, he had a lot of responsibility on his head.  _He_  was the only living airbender then. It was all up to him, and it was a huge task, what with keeping up the culture as well as being responsible for any hope of the future of the airbenders themselves. He started to put a fair amount of pressure on me to start making little airbenders with him. You have to understand, this was before Harmonic Convergence. Tenzin was it, he was the youngest of Aang and Katara's kids. As you know, Bumi wasn't a bender at all - well not then, at least - and Kya, their sister, was a waterbender like her mother."

I sighed, and drank my tea.

"I wanted Tenzin. Just Tenzin. Just the person that I had before Aang died, the kid I grew up with, the one I fell in love with. That's who I wanted. I didn't want the last airbender. I didn't want any of that. I didn't want to have kids that the world would be watching, waiting to see if they would start to airbend or not. You've got no idea what it did to Bumi - and to Kya, as well - knowing that in that way they just didn't measure up. What if I had a kid who was an earthbender? Or, spirits forbid, a non-bender? I had seen how it tore Bumi and Kya apart, how it put so much pressure on Tenzin. I refused to do that to any kid of mine, and let me tell you, I don't think it was any accident that neither Bumi nor Kya ever had kids either."

I shot a look at him. He was quiet, listening to me.

"Well. The rest of the story isn't a secret either. He and and I went back and forth for years until he chose someone else. Air acolyte, as devoted to the culture and the history and the future of the air nomads as Tenzin himself. Someone who was happy to pop out plenty of potential airbenders. I won't lie. It hurt. But, what can you do? In the end I guess it turned out for the best, for all three of us."

He nodded slowly. "My first ex-wife, she got pregnant. Not mine, clearly not mine, I was at sea. I was young, and I didn't handle the situation well at all. To say the very least. I look back on it now and think, well, whose fault was it, really? I knew she wanted a home with a husband and a baby, and I married her anyway and then just ignored her unhappiness. What did I think was going to happen? Last I heard of her, she had married the father and had another couple of kids. She's happy, or so I hear, for which I'm glad. She was a good woman. She deserved better than what she got from me."

"What about the second wife?"

He laughed. "A mistake from the first moment to the last. That woman ate me alive."

I leaned forward and clinked my tea cup against his. "Hear hear to that. And now you're here?"

He rolled the cup in his hands. "You know, I didn't know what I was going to do when they put me ashore. Cook, I suppose, although this bum knee doesn't allow me to stand for hours like I used to. Spirits know I've been cooking since I could hold a spoon, that's what happens when you've got two parents who are chefs. General Iroh asked me to keep an eye on Naoki as a favor for his mother, and paid me well and I thought, well, I can do this for a few months, save up my yuan, figure out what to do next. Nice folks, too, Mako's family. Real nice folks. It wasn't any kind of a hardship to stay down there. I came up here when she did, and I don't know. I like the little Butterfly, and Wu is a damn good boss. Pays well, lets me be - he's not a micromanager, that man - and I'll admit it, I like him. Mako's not exactly the laid-back type but I respect him. Never seen another firebender to top him, outside of General Iroh, and he could give the general a hell of a run. He considers the house Wu's domain, so he leaves it between Wu and me, which suits me just fine. I could do a lot worse. And who knows, ask me in a few years, you know? But for now, I'm content. I've got my own private rooms, freedom to go where I please and run the house the way I think it should be run, and if I need to get anywhere, Qi's available. Oh, speak of the dark spirit!"

The headlamps from Wu's car flashed across the kitchen windows as Qi pulled into the garage.

"Well, looks like they are safely on their way, then," I said. "May Ember Island survive them."

He grunted. "Qi's not going to be a good time the next two weeks."

"Oh?"

He shook his head. "Head over heels for His Nibs unless I've missed my mark. The whole marriage and honeymoon thing? Nah, it's not making for a happy Qi. Not that Qi's ever really happy about much anyhow. Wu and engines, that's all that seems to please the kid."

"Wondered about that myself. Does Wu know?"

"About Qi's feelings for him? Oh, he knows, Wu's a sharp one. Always nothing but kind to Qi, which might be half the problem right there. Teaching Qi to read and write, did you know that? Respectful of the kid's privacy, too. If he was a jerk to the poor kid it might change something." He sighed. "Although maybe not, Qi pretty much worships the ground Wu walks on. I just hope it doesn't end badly. I'm not sure if Mako's clued in, though."

I snorted. "Mako's more of a big picture person. Very logical thinker. Damn good cop, don't get me wrong, but not the best with the whole touchy-feely part of things. In fact, if he's got a weakness as a cop it's because he backs away completely from the whole human emotion part of the work." Like I was one to talk.

The lights in the rooms above the garage went on for a few moments, and then went off. LoLo sighed. "Well, we won't be seeing Qi for the rest of the night, then." He stretched. And looked at me. "So," he said.

"So," I said, right back.

"Well, we could play coy here," he said, "But I think we're both a little too old for that bullshit, aren't we?"

I laughed. "I know I certainly am."

He smirked. "I'll lay it down, then. I think you are one hell of an attractive woman. Thought so since the first day you walked in here, and it seems to me you might not think too badly of me, either. What do you say? I'm not looking for any strings at all. Not looking for a steady relationship, sure as hell not looking for a wife. It's been about five or six years since I've last had a woman, so I'm a little rusty."

I rolled my eyes. "It's been awhile for me as well. I think you might be a little young for me, though."

He dismissed me with his hand. "Come on, now. You're a damn attractive woman. What are you, fifty or so?"

I laughed. "Old flatterer. I hit fifty-seven a couple of months ago."

He looked me up and down with appreciation. "Raava's light, woman. You wear it well."

I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. "At least tell me your name. I know it isn't really LoLo."

He grinned. "It's Lozan, but I've gotten kind of attached to LoLo, to tell the truth. Forty-nine years old. Native of the Fire Nation, grew up in the palace, which is probably why I feel right at home with His Nibs here. Married twice, divorced twice, trick knee that acts up a bit but hopefully won't give me any problems tonight. Never had the pleasure of an earthbender in my bed, so I might be a little hopeful there. Anything else you need to know?"

I stared at him for a few moments. "No strings here?"

He shook his head. "Not a one. I don't want to be tied down. Never have. I'm just looking for some enjoyable company. I enjoy yours. No hard feelings if you aren't up for it. None at all. As I said, I'm too old for any of those games, I'm just looking for something simple. If you'd enjoy some company as well and aren't looking to get tied down, then what do you say?" He glanced down at himself and laughed. "I'm no Mako, but then again, who is?"

I raised an eyebrow back at that. "I've never had a firebender myself, as it happens. I'll admit, I'm curious. According to rumor, lots of passion there."

He nodded. "Lots of stamina with earthbenders, I've been told."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. In any case, save me from a drive home." I glanced through the window to the dark garage. "Any issues there?"

He shook his head. "If it's not about Wu, Qi doesn't care. Closed-mouth kid anyhow."

I grunted. "Hell, if we're going to do this, I might need a little more than tea."

He motioned over to one of the cabinets. "Got a bottle of whiskey there, if you are the kind of woman that enjoys a little whiskey."

"I am, as it happens." I got up, fetched the whiskey - a good bottle of it, too, might I add, none of the cheap shit, I approve - and poured right into the tea cups. We weren't standing on ceremony at this point, no need to dirty another glass. We drank a few rounds, measuring each other up in near-silence. He was a good-looking man, no doubt. Not my usual type - I've always gone for men that are taller and bigger than me, which is probably just my ego flaring up, I've always had a bit of a stick up my ass going on about being the biggest woman in any room. But LoLo was well put-together in that way that wiry men can be when they've got some muscle instead of scrawn. I'd seen his hands in motion, knives fairly flying and I'll confess, I do appreciate a man with nimble fingers. I could appreciate the hair, too, he had a full head of it, thick and wavy, salt and peppered. He had a long curved dimple in his right cheek that liked to pop out in a sassy way I'd noticed from the get-go. I'll admit to casting my eyes more than a few times that damn dimple's way.

He laughed, suddenly. "Well, will I suit?" He downed the last of his whiskey. "I'll confess, I've always hoped to see those breasts outside of a uniform, and it's the first time I've seen you in civvies. You do hold up well out of a uniform, Police Chief Beifong." 

"Lin," I said. "Just Lin. I get Chiefed all day long, and tonight, I'd just like to be Lin."

He smiled. "Lin it is." He stood up, slowly, favoring the knee a bit, and held out his hand. "Well, Lin, what do you say?"

I let him pull me up. "What about the baby?"

"I'll leave my door open, we'll hear her if she fusses. Doubt she will, though, she's a good sound sleeper, that one."

I found myself unaccountably nervous, standing this close to him. Damn me anyhow, it's not like I'm some shy little virgin. He took care of that, though, by twining his hand through my hair to draw my face to his, putting his lips on mine. His mouth was hot, and I could taste the whiskey, although I don't know if it was him or me. Didn't matter, my body came alive. It's been awhile. Far too long awhile. I'm not dead yet, though, I'm not even close, and sometimes a woman gets tired of being lonely, spirits help me. His other hand crept up to the back of my head to intensify the kiss and I guess what they say about firebenders and heat is all true, because I was suddenly infused with fire. A little voice in the back of my head insisted that I break away; make a scathing comment, run for the hills, slam up all of my ironclad walls. Fuck that little voice. Fuck it up and down and sideways. Instead I brought up my own hands and wrapped them around his torso, pulling him flush alongside of me and let myself go into the kiss.

Damn me, but if I had known firebenders could kiss like that I might not have waited until I was in my fifties to give one a try.

He pulled away from me and his coppery eyes flared. "Damn, woman," he breathed with a little laugh. "You aiming to kill me, here?"

"You going to use that mouth to talk with or put it to better use?" I flung out, and then internally smacked myself for it. No filters!

He just laughed, though, and brought his mouth to my ear. "Why don't you come with me and see?" he said, and pulled my hair back to expose my neck. He bit me, and then pulled me towards his room.

 

 _Stop making everything so damn difficult_ , _Lin,_ my mother used to always say to me. I never could. Even as a child I worried, so much, I always tried to keep every single ball up in the air. It's why I've always had such a soft spot for Mako, I know - I understand, deep and sure and true, why he takes everything so damn seriously, why he can't ever just relax and let go. Let me make it clear: I'm not trying to compare my childhood with Su to his with Bolin. I know I had it far better than Mako ever did. But I have always felt the weight of everything in my life, dragging me down. A big squat ugly rock, moored into the ground, unmoving and heavy, that's Lin Beifong.

LoLo made it easy. He asked me for nothing; promised nothing in return. There was no weight to it, no premonitions, no expectations, nothing but feeling whatever we were feeling in the moment. I don't know what came over me, but I just let go. I let everything ease on through. I stopped thinking and just let myself feel it. It felt good. It felt so fucking good. It's been so long since anyone - short of my sister - has touched me with any kind of feeling at all. He lived up to the firebender reputation too; all passion, spark, hot and hard. I just let him have his way, trusted him to make it good, and he did, oh he did. Maybe if there's a next time I can show him how an earthbender works - we take our time, a slow build, calculated for impact. He might find he enjoys it. 

I'd like there to be a next time.


	2. Turn Your Radio On

Feng tapped on my glass window. "Radio," he mouthed, and I frowned, leaning over to switch on my radio. I'd been trying to finish up some paperwork and had turned the spirits-damned thing off, the chatter across it usually drove me to distraction.

I grabbed the mic and spoke into it. "Beifong here."

"Chief? You there?"

"I'm here."

"It's Mako."

"What do you need?" 

"Uh...I found something."

"Shit. Another dead one?" That would make the fourth body in as many days. It was getting damn old damn fast.

"Uh. No. Not a dead one." Suddenly, over the radio, I heard a thin wailing. 

"What the hell is that?"

"It's...uh...it's a baby."

"What? It's a _what_?"

"A baby. Just born, I think. All covered in...stuff." His voice, even over the radio, sounded more than a little shaky.

"Where's the mother?"

"I don't know, Chief. I found him in one of the dumpsters in the alley behind the rows of pawnshops over on Eighty-Ninth Street."

"You found a baby in a _dumpster_? Shit. SHIT. Better bring it in, I guess."

"Yeah, okay. Okay. I'll bring him in. I'm leaving now. Mako out."

Well, fuck. We'd have to call in someone from one of the orphanages, but at least Mako could file a report and we could get pictures first. I leaned forward to tap on the glass and waved at Feng to come in.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"You've got kids, right, Feng?"

He looked at me in surprise. "Sure. Four of them."

Four. Spirits help us. "Listen, what kind of things do you need for a baby? A newborn baby, I mean."

Feng just stared at me.

"Look, Mako found a baby in a dumpster. He's bringing it in, I just figured we'd better have something here before I call up one of the orphanages."

"Oh! Well, then. You'd need some warm clothes, diapers, something for the baby to eat. Blanket. Dumpster, eh? Something to clean the baby up a bit with, I'm guessing. Like how old a baby are we talking, here?"

"I dunno, but I think pretty damn new. Like hours-old new."

Feng whistled. "Shit."

I reached into my desk, pulled out an envelope with some yuan in it. "Look, I hate to ask it, but can you take this and run out and get what we need? I don't have the first idea what to get."

"No problem, Chief. Hey, rather than that, let me call my wife. We've got everything needed at home."

"I don't want you to take away from your own kids."

"Naw, the baby's already two years old. No worries. Hang on a second."

He went out to his desk and made a call. He came back in a few minutes later. "My wife is putting together a bundle, and my brother-in-law will drive it over. I can just dash to the grocery around the corner and pick up some baby milk." He grinned. "I don't think we've got anybody lactating here."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't look at me." I handed him the envelope of yuan, and he saluted me and jogged out.

I paced my office for awhile. I could see the other officers out there chatting, shooting looks my way. Great. All I needed, station gossip. Feng made it back, and brought me my change. Baby in a dumpster. Hand to Raava, but I am getting too damn old for this job. I hoped wherever the mother was she was okay. Spirits know what happened, because I'm sure we never will. This city, I swear. I love it, but it chews people up and spits them out.

I looked up as Mako came in. He had a bundle in his arms - wrapped up in his uniform jacket - and his face was stricken. Well, probably looked impassive to everyone else. Mako's not always the easiest man to read, but I've gotten better at it over the years. I waved him in, and then pointed at Feng and waved him in as well.

I shut the door. 

"Let me take a look?" Feng asked Mako, who reluctantly handed over the baby. Feng unwrapped him. "Ah, shit, look at the poor little thing. Hasn't even had his umbilical cord cut properly, looks like it was chewed off or something." He thrust the baby at me. "Here, hang on to him a second, Chief."

"What? I don't want to hold him!" Shit. I was going to drop him, I just knew it. He was very small, covered in blood and some sort of white gunk. "Is he hurt?"

"Naw, that's what they look like when they're born. He can't be more than a couple of hours old, at the outside. No, Chief, don't hold him like that! Make sure you support his neck!" Feng pulled out a pocket knife and carefully sharpened the edge with his finger. "Mako, do me a favor and heat up the blade, would you? I want to make sure it's clean." Mako took the blade and ran it through flame before waving it to cool off.

Feng took the blade back, and then said to me, "Hold him still, now." He carefully cut through the cord only a inch or so above the belly button. "Okay, that's better. It will dry up and fall out in a few days or so." 

"Spirits. That's just disgusting," I said. Mako took him back from me and glared. "What?"

"Let me go check and see if my brother-in-law's gotten here yet." Feng left.

Mako stood in the middle of the room, holding the baby. He had re-wrapped him in his jacket.

"The dumpster, huh?"

"I was walking back to the patrol car after following up a lead at one of the pawnshops there. The car was parked at the head of the alley. I don't know...he wasn't making very much noise, I still don't know how it was I managed to hear him. I thought it might be coming out of a window, there are some flats there. It kept going, though, and it sounded so desperate..." He looked up at me. "Sort of the sound that Naoki makes when she's distressed, not like when she's throwing a tantrum." He looked back down at the baby. "I started searching and there he was. In the dumpster itself, laying inside a box there. I don't know whether or not he was put there inside the box or whether or not the box was in the dumpster first. He didn't have any kind of covering at all." He swallowed, hard. "It's not really warm enough for a baby to be outside without any kind of covering."

"No sign of the mother?"

He shook his head. "No. I don't think she gave birth there. I didn't spend a lot of time looking around, but I didn't see any obvious signs of childbirth or anything."

I sighed. "Well, you had to bring him in right away, of course. Let me send someone out. I'll send Hathai, she knows that area pretty well and she can also ask around and see if anybody knows anything. Not that I think she'll get anywhere, mind you. But we have to ask anyhow. I'll be right back."

By the time I got back from sending off Hathai my office was empty. Feng's brother-in-law had shown up and he and Mako had headed into the toilets to clean the baby up a little. They came back a few minutes later, the baby still red and wrinkled but cleaner, dressed in clothes and swaddled up in a blanket. Mako had a good grip on him.

"Just make sure you get those diaper pins on tight or you'll live to regret it, my friend," said Feng with a laugh. "Now normally if you are using a bottle you'd want to boil it clean and warm up the milk a bit. We never used bottles, of course, but if my mother watched any of the babies she'd use a bottle. But this one is clean enough." He opened up the can of baby milk and poured it into the bottle. "Just warm it up a little bit, you don't want it too hot, it'll burn the baby's mouth." Mako carefully ran flame under the bottle, and Feng shook it before dabbing a little on his wrist. "Perfect. So what you do is just tip it in at an angle. He won't take much at this point, his tummy is so tiny. He'll eat pretty much all day, though. Eat and sleep, that's all they do at this age."

Mako sat down on the edge of my desk and gave the baby the bottle. The baby immediately started to suckle.

"Oh, look at him go! Hungry little fella!" said Feng with a smile.

Mako looked up, and his face was radiant.

Ah well _shit_.

We all watched as the baby slowly tapered off, mouth going slack.

"You'll need to burp him," Feng said, holding out his arms to demonstrate. Mako gave the baby over very reluctantly. Feng slung him up expertly up to his shoulder, jiggling him a bit and tapping his back. "Not too hard, or he'll puke it right back up. Just enough to get the gas out."

The baby belched, a resounding noise. Who knew something that small could make a noise that loud? Mako practically snatched the child back.

"There you go. You're a natural, Mako." Feng grinned at him.

I sighed. "Okay, then." I stuck my head out of the office. "Song!" Song looked up from his desk, raised an eyebrow. "I'm heading out early today. Station is yours."

"You got it, Chief," he said, with a salute. He got up and walked over. "Boy or girl?" he asked Mako.

"Boy," Mako replied.

"Handsome little guy," he said, sticking out his finger to tickle his chin very lightly. He leaned over. "Aren't you just the handsomest boy in all of Republic City!"

I could not believe what I was seeing. You too, Song?  All three of them, Song, Mako and Feng, looked down at the child with the most fatuous expressions imaginable. Grown men like that. Get it together.

"Okay, that's enough of this shit. Song, you're up. Feng, get your ass back to work. Please thank your wife for her help. Mako, move it out. My car. Let's go."

Mako looked around, slightly confused. "Okay. Are we taking him to the orphanage ourselves?" 

He's a very intelligent man, Mako. Very bright. Quick as a whip. That being said, sometimes he is unable to see what is right in front of him. 

We got into the car and I threw his (probably ruined forever) uniform jacket into the back. "Get in."

"Uh, what about my car?" He nodded towards the employee parking lot. 

"You can send Qi for it."

He got in, carefully cradling the baby. He had the other supplies from Feng in a bag around his shoulder. He didn't say much; just stared at the baby desperately. Spirits help us all. I drove straight to the house, and let me tell you, I should get some sort of award for resisting the very strong temptation to comment on the look the man was giving that infant. As we pulled up, he looked over at me, startled. "Do we need something here?"

I jerked my thumb towards the house. "Let's go." We walked up to the front door and went in. As we walked in and I shut the door behind us the lilting sound of a yangqin cut out. Wu came around the corner into the entryway, bamboo hammers in both hands, looking confused.

"Mako? You're home early. What's going on? Lin?" He looked at me, eyebrows raised.

"Daddy!" Naoki threw herself down the stairs, running at Mako full-tilt.

"Careful, Butterfly!" Mako angled his body so she'd slam into his thighs.

Wu was staring at him. "I hate to point out the obvious, but I'm pretty sure you didn't leave the house this morning with an infant."

"Maybe we could take this inside instead of standing in the entrance?" I asked.

Wu put a hand to Mako's back and propelled him forward. "Naoki, don't jump on Daddy right now. He has a baby in his arms."

"A baby? Daddy, where did you get a baby?"

"Well, that is exactly what I would like to know. Do tell, Daddy, where did you get a baby?" Wu pointed at the sofa. Mako sat.

"I found the baby."

"Found the baby?" Wu's eyebrows were so high they were about to smack into the ceiling. He put his yangqin hammers down on the coffee table.

Mako's eyes slid towards Naoki, who had crawled up onto the sofa next to him and was peering down at the bundle in his arms. "Ah, in a D-U-M-P-S-T-E-R."

Wu frowned. "Where is the M-O-T-H-E-R?"

Mako shook his head. "Not there."

"Not there?"

I spoke up. "D-E-A-D or G-O-N-E. For good, either way. We'll look, of course, but she won't be back. Trust me on this one." 

He nodded. "I trust you."

I sat down in the armchair I like to think of as mine. Well. When I'm here at least, it's mine. Which is only a few times a week, don't get any ideas. It's only because LoLo is a good cook and otherwise I'd be eating takeout as per usual.

Wu sat down next to Mako and held out his arms. Mako slid the baby into his arms. Wu handled the baby with more expertise than Mako had. "Girl or boy?"

"Boy," Mako said.

"Has he been fed? Is there a diaper on?"

Mako nodded.

Wu smiled down at the infant. "Well, we'll need more of all of that, won't we?" The baby got a kiss on his sleeping forehead. "Maybe we can ask Auntie Opal for a few loans until Papa can go shopping, what do you say?"

"Uh, why do we need things from Opal? We need to take that baby to the O-R-P-H-A-N-A-G-E."

Wu kissed the baby again. "Shhh, don't listen to Daddy. He doesn't get to bring Papa home a baby and then take him away again. I bet if we ask Uncle Bolin really nicely he'll drive right over here, won't he? Don't worry, your cousin San is a big boy of six months! He's not using anything in your size any longer." He stood up with the baby and walked over to the phone.

"Daddy, did you really bring me home a baby brother?" Naoki pounced into his lap and kissed him. "YAY!"

Mako shot me the dirtiest glare I believe the man has ever shot me. "You did this on purpose."

"I have no idea at all what you are talking about." I smirked at him. He grunted at me.

"...no, Mako brought him home...What? No! He didn't buy him at a baby store, Bolin!" Wu rolled his eyes. "Can you just ask Opal...yes, I can hold on a second..."

"We can't just do this kind of thing. I mean, there have to be procedures in place. Paperwork." Mako was still glaring at me.

I snorted. "Like your husband has ever done a single piece of paperwork in his life." I wasn't joking. I am about 200% sure that the entire concept of paperwork is completely unknown to Wu. Paperwork exists for regular people. Not kings. Even if they are former kings. The man just does what he wants, and everyone just goes along with it. Damn him anyhow.

"You know what I mean!" Mako's gaze drifted back to the baby, nestled in the crook of Wu's arm. "I mean, babies just don't appear out of nowhere!"

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously you've never met my sister. They just kept falling right out of her on a regular basis, apparently. As a grand finale, she popped out two for the price of one."

"That's not the same thing at all!"

"Quit being so literal," I said. "How many times have I heard you talk about how much you hated orphanages?"

"But we have no idea how to care for an infant! Naoki was already two by the time we got her!"

"Well, for the love of Raava, Mako, how does anybody know? They figure it out! The human race has survived this far, hasn't it? Look, we'll deal with the paperwork, keep your shorts on." There were favors owed me. I was willing to call in a few if necessary.

"...Opal, thank you so much. I promise I'll call you tomorrow...mmm-hmm...no, little benders have big ears in this house...uh huh, she's right here...well, she's currently spinning in circles in the middle of the floor, so I'd say she was pretty enthusiastic...no, we haven't gotten that far..." The baby started to whimper at that point. "Oh, there he goes...yes, I'll kiss him for you. Talk to you tomorrow! Bye!"

Wu laid the baby down and unwound him from his blanket before expertly removing the bottom half of his clothes. "Any spare diapers?"

Mako dug frantically through the bag. "Um, yes?" He held up a square cloth.

"That's what I need, hand it over." Wu swapped out the diaper. He was surprisingly quick.

"How do you know how to do that?" Mako demanded.

"Don't be daft, Mako. You know I go over a few times a week to visit with Opal."

"Papa changes San's diapers. Sometimes we take care of San so Auntie Opal can have a nap. She's always tired."

"Get used to it, Butterfly," said Wu, and he air-kissed her. "This baby will probably mean I will need naps, too. Babies need lots of care."

At this point LoLo came in from the kitchen. He stared. "Someone going to fill me in, here?"

"Mako found him in a D-U-M-P-S-T-E-R," I said. LoLo winced.

"Any sign of the you know who?" he asked.

I shook my head at him and he sighed. "Damn," he said. He lowered himself into the chair across from me, peering at the baby. "He can't be even a day old, can he?"

Wu bundled him back up and then sat Naoki on the sofa. "Now darling, can you be a big girl and hold him while Papa gets him something to eat?"

Her eyes widened. "I can hold him?"

"You hold San sometimes, right? You remember how, just sit still and remember to hold his neck." He placed the baby carefully in her arms. "There, just like that. You see? What a good big sister you are already." Wu started to dig through the bag of things Feng had given to Mako.

She beamed up at Wu, and then looked at Mako. "Do you see me, Daddy? Do you see?"

"I see you, Butterfly." He slid next to her and put his arm around her.

She looked up at me, next. "Lin, do you see me?"

"Sure I do, kid. Lookin' pretty good, there."

"LoLo! I'm holding the baby!"

"Doing a bang-up job of it too, Butterfly." He winked at her, and Naoki giggled.

The baby started fussing again.

"Papa, he's crying!"

"Well, he's probably hungry. Let's just get Daddy to warm this up a little bit." He handed the bottle he'd filled with the baby milk to Mako, who waved a little flame under it. Wu tested it just like Feng did. "You are so very handy," he said to Mako, who actually blushed a little, hand to Raava.

"Here, darling. Let Daddy help you." He handed the bottle back to Mako, who leaned over Naoki and popped the bottle into the baby's mouth.

Wu perched himself on the arm of the chair I was sitting in. "So. I know who I have to thank for this."

I grunted at him. He rolled his eyes back at me.

"Please. That man would have taken the child straight to the orphanage out of a sense of duty. You know it and I know it." He tipped his head down at me.

"I can hear you, you know," Mako said, but he didn't take his eyes off of the baby. We ignored him.

"I don't think much of the orphanages," I said. "Kids either get stuck in the system or stuck on the streets. No damn good for anybody. He'd be better off with a good family that loves him."

"Why Lin Beifong, you old softy! Are you saying we are a good family?"

"I'm saying _you_ are a P-R-I-C-K."

He grinned at me, and then swooped down to kiss me on the cheek. "I love you too."

I smacked him away. "I should arrest you for assault!" LoLo laughed, and I glared at him as well.

Naoki looked up at me. "I love you, Lin." 

Well, crap. You can't really smack a four-year-old for saying it. If I didn't say something back I'd make her cry. Spirits know that whenever I'd tell my mother I loved her, she'd just grunt at me as an answer - if she gave me any response at all - and it hurt my feelings. Enough so I just stopped saying it. I understood as an adult that it was just her way, but as a child it devastated me. I didn't want the Butterfly to stop saying it. So. "I love you too, Butterfly."

Well, those two assholes she calls fathers didn't need to stare at me like that. Neither did that damn ladykiller of a firebender. Spirits. Didn't they all have something better to do, like change a diaper or cook dinner or what-have-you?

"So. You going to give that child a name or what?" Best to move along now.

Wu stared at the boy. Stared from the arm of my chair, mind you. I didn't invite him to sit there, I'll have you know.

"Well, I have to say, I haven't really been considering baby names lately. One thing for sure, we're not naming him for _my_ father." Wu made a face.

"Bolin already took my father's name," said Mako.

"Only fair, we have Naoki," answered Wu.

"We can name him Yaozhi," said Naoki. "Like in the books, Papa!"

Wu smiled at his daughter. "Well, don't you think that's a pretty big name for a baby to carry?"

"Who's Yaozhi?" asked Mako. He carefully placed the baby on his shoulder and started to pat him.

"You'll want to put something underneath him when you do that, Mako," said LoLo. "Babies tend to spit up a lot." He leaned forward and rummaged a clean diaper from the bag and arranged it on Mako's shoulder. Mako nodded his thanks before switching the baby to the covered shoulder and starting to pat again.

"Wait, don't you know about Yaozhi?" asked Wu.

"You know, old Earth Kingdom folktales," I said. "My mother used to tell them to Su and me."

Mako shrugged. "Nope. Doesn't ring a bell."

"Never heard of him either," said LoLo.

"Oh, even I had all of the books when I was small," said Wu. "He had all kinds of adventures. Dug out lakes with badgermoles!"

"Don't forget creating the Si Wong desert," I threw in. "Earthbent those mountains right into sand."

"Oh, Papa! And made the islands! We read that one last night, Daddy! There's pictures!"

"I think my favorite one was the one with the elephant koi," grinned Wu.

"You and your koi," I said.

The baby belched a truly mighty belch.

"My goodness," said Wu, and laughed. "Maybe he's a Yaozhi at that."

"Call him Zhi for short," I suggested. We all considered the baby, held safely in Mako's arms.

"I like it," said Wu.

Mako smiled at him. "If you like it, then that's what we'll do."

"Lin! Did that mean I gave him his name?"

"Sure did, kid. We're lucky you're so smart, huh?"

Mako looked at me. "Thank you," he said.

I waved a hand at him. "Yeah, you won't be thanking me when you have to be at work in the morning without any sleep."

He didn't answer, just put his lips gently to the soft crown of the baby's head.


	3. I'd Like Your Opinion, Please

It's a good place, Yumi's dojo. Clean and kept up - all of the equipment is top notch and cared for, clearly - but it's unpretentious and unfussy. A place to work and learn, not show off. I've always suspected that Wu must have had a hand in making sure Yumi had the start-up capital for it. Not that Wu would have looked at it as an investment - Wu is completely useless when it comes to money and would have just handed her whatever she needed, and more - but I know for a fact that Mako is incredibly sharp with anything related to finances. The Triple Threat Triad hadn't kept around a barely into his teens numbers runner out of compassion. (They surely hadn't kept Bolin around out of compassion; I suspect Mako must have made it very much worth their while to keep Bolin around, because spirits help him, I am sure Bolin was probably as useless as pants on a bear when it came to being a Triad member.) Mako made numbers work for him, and the few very deliberately offhand comments he'd made to me over the years with regards to investments have always paid off very well. Wu had gladly handed everything over to him, and I know that in the past six years or so Mako has already made them more money.

I am not under any illusion that Mako works for me because he actually _needs_ his cop's salary, let's just put it that way.

Yumi made quick eye contact with me as I walked in the door and nodded towards the benches set along one wall; she was just finishing up with a class. I took a seat. Yumi was a good teacher; clear, patient, encouraging. Not the type to break students down before expecting them to work all the harder to please her. I approve. Oh, don't get me wrong, I had learned how to bend both earth and metal under my mother, but it had crushed what little self-esteem I'd ever had as a girl. _You're too spirits-damned sensitive_ , _Lin!_   my mother would shout. _Just hit the fucking thing, don't cry at it!_ Oh, I had been trained, all right. Trained well. If it had broken my spirit in the process, well, that wasn't Toph Beifong's problem, was it?

I try not to be bitter. Never made any difference, but spirits know I've tried.

I know from my sister that Mom had been completely different with my nephew, Huan. Su told me about Huan as a baby; he would cry for hours, inconsolable, body held stiffly, so stiffly that sometimes he'd shake with it. He was unable to grasp toys and didn't even make the usual baby babble. According to Su, Huan hadn't even learned to walk until he was nearly two; hadn't spoken his first word until he was nearly five. Su and Baatar hadn't known what to do with him at all. I know from what Su had told me that both of them had spent hours with him, trying to get him to respond. Baatar Junior hadn't shown any signs of being a bender, and neither had Opal; Su had just assumed that Huan wasn't a bender either and had never even tried to teach him.

Mom hadn't assumed. According to Su, Mom would sit for hours with Huan. Patiently sit with him, vibrating the ground so lightly you could barely sense it. Placing rocks in his hand with her own hand on top, shaking them ever so gently with her bending. Putting a rock in Huan's hand, then taking it out. Putting it back in. Shaking it slightly. Su told me that our mother never once lost her patience, never once shouted, never once startled him by any sudden moves. If Su hadn't told me - and Baatar hadn't backed her up - I would have never believed it, quite frankly.

One day, Huan picked up a rock on his own. Staring at the ground, he put the rock into Mom's hand, put his own hand on top of it and made it vibrate. Just like she had been showing him, for months and months. Mom thanked him, put the rock back into his hand, made it vibrate. They continued.

The same went with the metal. The seismic sense. He was a truth seer as well, although Su and Baatar hadn't known that for years, not until he was already into adulthood. Mom never once lost her patience with him, according to Su; never once showed the least sign of aggravation or aggression. Shit. I can still remember the bruises from getting slammed into with stones; the woman who had taught me had been a firm believer in the idea that the best benders learned by defending themselves. It's how Mom had taught Aang as well as the students at her Academy.

Mom had left the twins to Su to teach. Both of them were damn good benders; Beifongs, the both of them, no ands ifs or buts about it. Wing married Wu's former secretary, Nuo (and I'll lay every yuan that I have that one day Nuo will be the matriarch of the Metal Clan, non-bender status notwithstanding) and Wei's here in Republic City, pro-bending for the Zaofu Zorillas. Can't use his metalbending in the arena, of course, but he plays that Power Disc game he and Wing came up with when they were kids for fun. A few of my metalbending officers play with him. Huan, though. He was the real bender of the bunch, despite the fact that he rarely shows it. He moves like my mother, too - which is to say that when he's bending he hardly moves at all. He glides with the earth, instead of wrenching at it like the rest of us. Mom had understood how sensitive to both light and sound the boy was and trained him by blindfolding him. In essence, she had taught him the way she had taught herself.

I've found myself more than a few times wondering what kind of benders Su and I would have been if Mom had taught us the way she had taught Huan. Well, the point was moot. She hadn't, so there it was.

I came back to myself as the students bowed deeply at Yumi, Yumi bowing back. Lesson over. Yumi sauntered over to me. "Sorry to make you wait."

I waved her off. "I was early. No worries."

Yumi gestured towards her office, up a flight of stairs. She lives up there as well, I know.  "Tea?" she asked, and I nodded. Yumi put some water on to boil, and pointed me into a cozy chair. She busied herself with a tin of tea, every movement economical. She's a tall woman, Yumi, as tall as me, which is saying something. Leaner build than mine, though - it wouldn't surprise me at all if folks frequently mistook her for being male. Not that I think she'd care one way or the other. Like most Kyoshi Islanders she was a mix-up; paler brown skin with blue eyes and reddish-brown hair she kept clipped short. She had a thin scar slashed across one high cheekbone and her nose had seen better days. Not a bender, of course, but I'd seen what she could do with a katana and I'd think twice myself before getting on her bad side. Wu simply adores her.

Her office was much the same as the dojo downstairs and Yumi herself; clean, comfortable, well-cared for. I still don't know the whole story as to why Yumi had resigned her status as a Kyoshi Warrior, but I understood from Korra that it had to do with her feeling that the Warriors were more about the discipline of the thing as opposed to the hands on experience. I can well believe that Yumi preferred being hands on. She's always struck me as a hands-on kind of woman. As a hands-on kind of woman myself, I can respect that.

She set the tea to steep and took a seat.

"Listen, I won't waste your time," she said. I appreciate this about Yumi, I always had. "I would like to ask you a very personal question. Please feel free to tell me to fuck off, though. No hard feelings on my part."

I felt my eyebrows go up.

Yumi laughed a little. "My mother always did say my talents were never geared towards tact."

I grinned back at her. "No one's ever accused me of being particularly tactful either."

Yumi nodded. "So. I wanted to ask you how you personally felt about not knowing who your father was. Wu told me about your background, you and your sister."

I sat back, surprised, and Yumi shrugged. "This is the part where you can tell me to fuck off."

"Huh. Well, give me a second here."

"I'll just give you some tea, then." Yumi handed me a cup.

"Shit. No one has ever asked me that, I'll have you know."

Yumi grinned. "Well, here's to first times, then." She clinked her tea cup against mine.

"Can I ask you why you're asking?"

"Sure," said Yumi, looking me straight in the eyes. "I'm pregnant."

My teacup stopped on the way to my mouth. "Say _what_?"

"I'm pregnant. Four months along. I'm just starting to show, so I figure now is as good a time as any to ask."

"Huh. I thought you didn't..."

"Prefer men? I don't. Never have. Never done it for me at all." She laughed, a little. "Never been any question of that for me, not since I was old enough to notice when a pretty girl crossed my path." She took a deep breath, and continued. "Four months ago I went down to Kyoshi to visit my family. My mother retired - she's had her own ship since I was a girl, Southern Tribe waterbender, you know - and my oldest sister's a waterbender as well, she's been Ma's first mate for years. The plan was always that she was going to be taking over the ship when Ma retired. My Da's a Kyoshi Islander, and my next oldest sister lives on the island as well. She's married, has kids. My baby sister's a waterhealer. Got stuck in one of those re-education camps back during Kuvira's time, never quite been the same after it. Well, that's neither here nor there. Anyhow, we all met down there to give Ma a good retirement sendoff and to drink Tanka off on her maiden voyage as the captain, and let's just say I had a little too much celebration, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, I know."

"Anyhow, my sister's first mate is a man we've all known since we were kids. Same age as my second oldest sister, grew up down the street from us, took on with my mother as soon as he could get his own mother to let him go to sea. Paqak's a waterbender as well - it's not all that unusual on Kyoshi, most of us have always been a mix-up of earth and water down there. Anyhow, I had a little too much, he had a little too much, one thing led to another, and there we were." She thought for a moment. "Not a bad thing, mind you, but not something I'm liable to repeat. Just not to my taste. Well, to each her own, I guess."

"You didn't use any birth control?"

Yumi looked sheepish. "Never been an issue before now. Frankly, I was too drunk to really think about it. Damn stupid of me. _Damn_ stupid. Anyhow, fast forward two months, I realize I'm late, and there I am. I went to see a healer, and sure enough. I'm knocked up. Shit! I'm thirty-six years old, my first and only time with a man, what are the odds? I should start betting on pro-bending or something, I guess."

"What are you going to do?"

Yumi put down her cup. "Well. I've got no real interest in being a mother. It's never appealed to me. I don't have much of a maternal instinct, and I love my work. I don't want to give it up or compromise on it. Motherhood means compromises, and I don't want that. I'm sure you understand where I am coming from with that."

"I do."

"I went back and forth over what to do, but I never considered raising the baby. Just not my thing. I haven't discussed it with anyone else yet - you're the first one I've told, I've not even said anything to Korra, although I think Asami might be a mite bit suspicious, she was eyeballing me the other night - but I've been thinking of talking to Wu and Mako about it."

"You mean letting them raise the baby?"

She nodded. "I'd trust them to raise any child right. They've done a hell of a job so far with the two they have. They could refuse me, of course-"

I snorted at that, and she tipped her head in acknowledgement of said snort.

"Yeah, well, they probably won't. If they aren't willing I suppose I'll appeal to my sister. Her own kids are much older, and I'm not sure how thrilled she'd be with an infant, but my family is close. She'd do it for me, and I'd trust her as well."

"What about Korra and Asami?" I've often wondered about the relationship between the three of them. I know she and Korra are pretty tight - Korra trained with Yumi and they got along very well according to Mako. I didn't think there was anything going on but friendship between the two of them. I wasn't so sure about Asami, though. Asami and Yumi had a fairly intense thing going. One of those fight or fuck kind of things, and I wasn't sure which one it was. Both, maybe. None of my business either, when it came down to that. If I really wanted to know, I could ask, I suppose. Ask Wu, I mean; I sure as hell wasn't going to ask either Yumi or Asami.

Yumi picked her cup back up and twiddled with it. "They keep going back and forth on it. They're both in their late twenties; they've still got time if they want to try themselves or even adopt. I don't know. I think they'd make good parents - Korra adores kids, I'm sure you know that - but Asami's busy and Korra travels a lot. It'd be one thing if they had decided on it, you know? But they haven't, and frankly, I don't want to get in the middle of that decision. I value Korra as a friend far too much to put myself in the middle of it."

Nothing about Asami. Huh. Maybe I would ask Wu. What can I say? I'm a nosy old ~~bitch~~ detective.

"I can't really speak for them, of course, but I venture to say Wu would jump at the chance to raise any child of yours."

She smiled. "He's a good little Papa, isn't he? Spirits, when I see how far he's come. You know, I remember him the first day we were assigned to him, the other Kyoshis and I. Just sitting there in the middle of that room in the palace with all of those advisors. He's such a slight little thing, and he was so young then, none of them would pay the least bit of attention to him. He'd try to speak and they'd just ignore him, talk right over him, the only way he could get anyone to notice him was when he'd act the fool. Thing was, I started to actually listen to what he was saying and I could tell he knew what he was talking about. He's nobody's fool. He started to gain a lot more confidence after he got stabbed, though. Not the best way to grow a pair, I guess, but it seemed to be his turning point."

"Mako set my desk on fire when I told him Wu'd been stabbed."

"You're shitting me! _Mako?_ Mister I'm In Control?"

I nodded and grinned. "Shocked the hell out of me, let me tell you. I'd never seen him do that before, and I'd seen the way he mooned after Korra once upon a time. All I could think was spirits be damned, we've got ourselves a situation here, because this boy is lovesick and doesn't even know it. Although in retrospect, I think he knew it. He just didn't know what to _do_ with it, which is not the same thing at all. In some ways I think it was worse."

"I wanted to kill him. Poor Wu just cried and cried after him; by the time he got there to Ba Sing Se for Wu's coronation I wanted to kick his ass, cutting Wu off the way he had. Couldn't really do that, of course. Called him Officer Hotpants, instead. Oh, that pissed him off, you can believe it."

I laughed. "Officer Hotpants. Officer Pants In A Twist, more like it. Ah, I am fond of the man, but he does get his shorts easily in a twist, he really does."

She sighed, and put her cup back down on the table with a definitive clink. "I should tell Paqak, I know. I don't think he'll want to raise the child, mind you. He's a sailor through and through. Woman in every port, will probably sail until he can't sail any more and then just lay down and die on land. I've seen the type. He hasn't got any other family still living, as far as I know. Working ship's no place for a baby anyhow, which is why my Da is the one who raised us girls on the island, at least when we were too small to be of any use on board. My oldest sister doesn't have kids either. The baby won't be going aboard her ship."

"You should let him know, though."

"Yeah, I know it. I will, I owe him that, at least. Thing is...what do we tell the baby?  It's not an issue with either Naoki or Zhi, there's no parents to connect them to."

"That's for damn sure."

"But this baby, though...we know who her parents are." Yumi sighed. "That's why I wanted to ask you your opinion on it. Should we tell her? Or him, I suppose. You can still tell me to fuck off if you don't want to discuss it, by the way. I know it's personal."

I sat back and thought about if for awhile. Yumi silently offered me some more tea; I took her up on it before I started to speak. "It killed me. To be blunt. Never knowing who my father was. I hated it. It wasn't so much that my mother was a single mother - she wasn't the only one, of course. But she point blank refused to tell either Su or me who our fathers were. We knew they were different men, of course - Mom told us that much. The thing is, though, Su's six years younger than me. I was young, but I would have noticed if there was a man hanging around and there just _wasn't_. I still can't figure it out. We had a wildly unusual childhood; Mom was always working, and she left us alone far too often and far too young. Don't get me wrong, she loved us. I know she did, she just wasn't very good at either showing us or telling us. Hell, in many ways Katara - Tenzin's mother - did more to raise us than Mom did. We spent a lot of time out on the island. Katara is a genuinely wonderful woman. I wrote to her not that long ago and asked her about our fathers - I had gotten out of Mom a few years back that my father's name was Kanto, which is more than Su had gotten out of her - and Katara said she thought she knew who my father was. Big man, Katara said, young, from up in the northwest somewhere. She seemed to recall that he was a farmer. Don't know what a guy like that would have been doing in Republic City, but he might have tried to attend my mother's Academy or something. She's in her nineties, Katara, still pretty sharp for that age but even at that, it had been so long ago. She had no idea about Su's father, and Mom was gone by then. Su and I have often wondered if it was Sokka - Katara's brother, that is. Katara told me that Mom had carried a torch for Sokka for years and years, even though he had married Suki."

"Wait, Suki? Kyoshi Warrior Suki? That married to Sokka, Suki?"

I stopped. "Oh sure, you'd know who Suki was, wouldn't you?"

She nodded. "Absolutely. Never met her, of course - she died before I was born. But she's pretty legendary on Kyoshi, the whole Avatar Aang thing."

"Yeah, that's her. I don't really remember her. She died a year or so before Su was born. I do remember Sokka, of course. He was the best kind of uncle, always fun. Used to take us kids out for ice cream, tell us funny stories, taught us how to throw around boomerangs. Bumi - Tenzin's older brother? - oh he adored Sokka, just adored him. The two of them were always thick as thieves. Sokka was pretty broken up when Suki died, though. They never had any kids, although Katara told me they tried. Suki kept losing the babies, and with the last one the baby took her with it. Katara said Sokka was just devastated. He stayed in Republic City for some years after that - he was on the City Council, I remember, but when his father died he moved back down to become the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. He was killed when the Red Lotus first came for Korra when she was just a small girl. I don't know, though. If Su was his, why wouldn't my mother have told him? I would have thought he would have been overjoyed to have a daughter, he loved kids. He wanted kids! My mother, though...if you think I'm a prickly bitch, you should have met her. She lived her own life and fuck the rest of the world, my mother. She never liked anyone telling her what to do, and that included telling her how to raise her daughters. Katara was the only one who could ever get away with saying a damn thing to her about Su and me. Anyone else, she would have bent the entire city on top of them. Anyhow, it's all speculation now. For all we know it could have been some unknown one-night stand. My mother refused to tell Su until the day she died. Katara's still with us, but she told Su years ago that she had no idea who her father was. Katara would have told her if she'd known, I'm certain of it."

"Do you think it bothers your sister?"

"I know it does. Oh, when we were growing up she always acted like she didn't care. But we've gotten very close in the past ten years, and we've talked about it. It bothers Su a great deal. In many ways I think Zaofu was her way of trying to build a rock solid family about her. Spirits know she and her husband did enough to populate it!"

"You ever thought about trying to hunt your father down?"

I sighed. "Well, I am assuming he's probably dead by now. I don't know. I've thought about it. Maybe when I'm retired. Which won't be that much longer, I'm worn out with the damn job. Let someone else do it for awhile." I drank my tea and thought for a few minutes. Yumi sat back and let me be. Finally, I looked back up at her. "If you want my opinion?"

"I do."

"I'd tell the baby. When it's older, of course. If Wu and Mako take it - not a guarantee, but I'm as sure as you are they'd jump at the chance, especially Wu, and if Wu wants something Mako will walk through fire to give it to him, spirits know - but yes, if they take the baby, I think it should know who its parents are. Doesn't mean you have to parent the child or anything, and as you say, the father is a sailor and won't be doing it either. But if the baby can know its parentage, I think it's better. Like you said, it's nothing Naoki or Zhi is ever going to get, that's for damn sure. But that doesn't mean you can't do something different with that child. It's unconventional, sure, but I guess we're an unconventional group at that."

She sat for a few moments, thinking. I let her do it in silence as well. "I suppose you're right, at that. Thank you. For your honesty, and for your willingness to talk to me about it."

"Glad I could be of help." I was, too. Nothing I could do for the Butterfly and for Zhi - they'd have to deal with their origins and their feelings about it when they were older, although they were certainly not being raised the way Su and I were - but at least this child wouldn't have to go through life being denied for no other reason than contrariness, as far as I could tell. Spirits. My mother. Didn't even have the fucking decency to come out of that damn swamp before she died, it was Jinora that came to tell me she'd felt her go, just a couple of months after Mako brought Zhi home. I radioed Su to tell her, and told her I'd get on the next train to help her find the body, but Wu showed up with his spirits damned airship, Mako and the kids with even LoLo and Qi in tow. Next thing I know everyone's on board, Asami, Tenzin, Bumi, Pema and all the airbender kids, and of course Opal and Bolin and baby San. Even Korra came up from knocking heads down south, met us in Zaofu. I was grateful. I'm normally pretty solitary - always have been - but we all went in there together and Su and Huan and I put her under the ground at the remains of that huge damn spirit vine tree she loved so - the one that survived what Kuvira and Junior tried to do to it - and then Baatar, bless the man, pulled out bottles of sake and we drank and remembered her. 

That was two years ago. I miss her sometimes, damn her bones. Too many years wasted, too many years we were at each other's throats or refusing to speak to each other. What was it for? I don't know. I just don't. I can't fix it now, though. 

"You going to be around for this kid, too?" she asked me. I looked at her. "I know how much you're around for Naoki and Zhi. Just wondering if you'll be doing the same for this one as well. If Wu and Mako take her."

" _If_ ," I said, with a look to show her what I thought of there being any doubt whatsoever on whether or not Wu and Mako would raise the baby. "And yes, I guess I will be. Spirits know I'll have nothing else to do if I retire."

She smiled at me. "Okay. Okay, then. I guess I'll give them a call, invite myself over to talk to them. At least ask them before foisting another baby on them."

I stood up. "I'm going over there for dinner tonight. LoLo's making his famous Komodo Chicken, or so he told me this morning. Why not come with me? LoLo always makes enough for half the city, you know Wu always takes the leftovers to whomever is sleeping in the park. There's always room for another at their table. You don't need an invitation."

"Tonight, huh?"

"No time like the present," I said, echoing my mother.

"Let me get my coat," she said.


	4. The Snitch, The Snoop, The Tattletale

I've always considered myself a morning person, but getting up at 5:00 am in order to sneak out the back door of Wu and Mako's house to my car parked around the corner was old the first time I'd done it, and I've been doing it for a couple of years now. I felt like a spirits-damned teenager and for the love of Raava, I'm sixty-two years old. I'm too old for this shit.

I'm too old for a lot of shit, quite frankly.

Not to mention it drives LoLo absolute wolfbat crazy. We don't actually fight much; we're both too damn stubborn to actually verbalize what we're angry about. I tend towards the refuse to address it school of thinking and LoLo tends towards the going into the basement training room and setting things on fire way of expressing his feelings, but we've fought more than once over my trying to keep my nights spent over here a secret. Damn it, I know he's got a point. We're both adults, spirits know, and it's ridiculous. It isn't that he's trying to get me to give up my own flat. He isn't, and I still spend nights there. I like my own space, and work being what it is there are nights where I need my solitude, either to get over myself or wrestle through some work-related issues. He respects that, and he's told me so directly. But on those nights that I did spend with LoLo I'd park around the corner and creep in through the back door after everyone had gone to sleep. And then haul my decrepit ass out of bed at 5:00 to sneak out the back. _Just get up and have breakfast with the rest of us, Lin, damn it_ , he has said, over and over again. 

I don't know. It's not like Qi doesn't know - oh, Qi knows, and has known since the beginning, not that Qi cares - and I'd lay odds Wu knows. Oh, who the fuck am I kidding, of course he knows. Raava's light, Wu makes everything his business. He knows everything there is to know about everything. (Buttercup Raiko had a torrid affair with Varrick ten years or so back - who knew? Wu, that's who. Now I can't even look at her in public without thinking about it, damn me. Like fucking a dead fish, wouldn't it be? I can't see it. What on earth would Varrick have seen in her? I just can't.) So who was I fooling, anyhow? Mako? Would he even care? Oh, he might be slightly scandalized, but he'd get over it. My sister? Please. LoLo had come with us when we buried my mother a few years back and Su took one look at him and then immediately turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. Not two weeks later I had a letter from Kya, asking me about him. Damn interfering women. Kya's always taken on a big sister role with both Su and me anyhow, and knowing Su the moment she got home from the funeral she immediately wrote to her. 

Su always ends her letters with a cheerful, _Give my regards to LoLo_ , damn the woman anyhow. I just know she's cackling away every single time she writes it with that smug little grin on her face. In case you are wondering if younger sisters ever stop being annoying, let me assure you: they never do. The worst part of it is that whenever she and Baatar come to town to visit she always makes sure to find time to sit and have a chat with LoLo. Who takes it all in stride, damn him and his charm anyhow. He's charmed the socks right off of my sister, and even Baatar likes him, according to Su. Su refers to him as _That man that you may or may not be seeing_. Well fuck you, Suyin Beifong. Smartass.

It's not that I am somehow ashamed of him. I'm not! I want to make that very clear. He's a good man, LoLo. He doesn't fuss and spirits know he never pressures me about anything. I enjoy his company - he's smart, has a wicked sense of humor, is good to talk to and he's damn good in bed, and if you think I am too old to appreciate that then let me set you straight on that particular concept. He told me in the beginning that there were no strings attached. I don't know if that's the reality any longer - can you really see someone for going on five years and have no strings at all? - but he wasn't after me for any kind of a commitment or taking out an ad in the Republic City newspapers advertising our love or anything like that. Oh hell, I know it's stupid that I'm still sneaking around after all this time. Now I'm just trying to justify my covertness. And failing spectacularly, may I add.

Why am I so afraid to make it official, you ask? Well, I think we all know why. I've been burned before. Well, so has LoLo for that matter, and he's made it clear that the only reason he's circumspect about the whole thing is because of me. This one is definitely on me. Oh hell, I don't know. I've got other things on my mind at the moment.

Shit.

So. Anyhow, back to this morning, when I was creeping out with my boots in my hand. A voice suddenly spoke up in the kitchen. "Aren't you a little old for that?"

I dropped the boots and whipped around, hands into fists and at the ready. Wu. Damn near scared the wits out of me. He was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, little Meili up on his shoulder. She was gnawing on a wooden ring, those big blue eyes puffy with tears, a river of drool wetting Wu's shoulder. She's teething, poor little thing, and according to LoLo she's been keeping everybody up with it.

Wu looked exhausted, even in the dim morning light.

"Fuck, you scared me half to death, Wu."

"I'll thank you for not throwing any rocks at my head," he said, and gave me a little smile. "Sneaking out of my house like that. What do you think you're doing?"

Meili started to sob and he sighed, standing up to sway with her gently. "Shhh, I know, little fish. Papa'd grow those teeth for you if he could."

"You look like someone ran you over," I observed, and he just sighed again.

"I don't know when I've last slept through the night," he said, and kissed the baby's head. "She's having a much worse go of it than Zhi ever did. I'm trying to let Mako sleep, he's the one working all day."

I held out my arms. "Come on, hand her over before you drop."

"She'll drool on you," he warned.

"I'll survive it," I said, and he handed her over. I put her up on my shoulder and started to rub her back, her sobs trailing off into whimpers. "Raava in a teapot, Wu, come and sit down. You really do look like shit." I made my way into the living room and sat down on the sofa, Meili still tucked against my shoulder and he followed, dropping down next to me. He put his hand over his eyes and slumped back against the cushions.

"Why _are_ you sneaking out of my house, Lin?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"None of your business," I said automatically, and he removed his hand to give me a look. "Oh hell, I don't know," I amended. 

"Did you think I didn't know?"

"Damn it, Wu," I said, without any rancor. "I figured you knew. _When_ did you know?"

He smiled a little, eyes closing. "When we got back from our honeymoon."

I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me. "Of course you did. Why haven't you said anything?"

He opened his eyes. They had dark circles under them. I knew Mako could be unobservant as to what's right under his nose sometimes, but are you telling me that he hadn't noticed? Obviously I needed to have a word with him.

"I respect your privacy," he said simply. 

I snorted. Meili mumbled a protest and I shifted her slightly into my lap, rubbing her back again. "Hush now. Go back to sleep, baby." 

"I do, Lin. I know I'm a terrible gossip, but I would never gossip about you. I don't gossip about the people I care about. My family." He closed his eyes again.

I looked down at him. So I'm someone he cares about, am I? Family? Here I am, cranky old childless spinster, married to her job and sour with it. Although come to think of it, I'm probably at least somewhat of an improvement on his real family. He'd really lost the spin of the wheel on that, hadn't he? Poor little thing himself. Oh fuck it. I'm fond of the man, what can I say? He's grown on me.

"Does Mako know?" I asked, but he didn't answer. I reached up with my free hand and nudged his shoulder gently. He'd fallen asleep, head craned back uncomfortably. He was going to wake up with a terrible crick in his neck if he slept that way. I glanced down at Meili, whose eyes had lidded shut. Oh hell. Now they were both asleep. I shifted and moved my free arm to gather Wu in, moving him until his head tipped and slid to my collarbone. I made sure he'd be comfortable and then slung my arm around him to keep him steady.

Well, I guess I wasn't going to be sneaking out this morning, was I?

I shifted my own head back and closed my eyes.

 

I woke up to pressure on my thighs and a pair of gray-green eyes staring at me intently.

"Hey, Lin, do you know if shirshus can hear good like they can smell good?"

Oh spirits. Zhi's first question of the morning. Certainly not his last. I have never, in my entire life, met anyone who could ask as many questions as he could, and he was only four. He even out-questioned Ikki, and that was saying something. The child was full of questions, and Raava help you if you didn't know the answer. He was long and lanky, this child, and formidably relentless for his age. He and San, Opal and Bolin's boy, were inseparable, despite the fact that they were complete opposites. San was a stocky and cheerful little fellow, fond of eating and laughing and building things. Zhi could already read, young as he was, and seemed to be adept at everything he tried. Oh, and he was a climber. If you didn't see him, look up. No, farther up than that. High up. He gave Mako heart palpitations, I know, with the climbing. He was strictly forbidden to climb with San, though, seeing as San took after his father, needing both feet firmly planted on the ground. Not an airbender, that little Beifong. He had earthbender written all over him. Zhi, insofar as anyone could tell, wasn't a bender of any stripe. Smart, though. Alarmingly so, if you ask me.

"Hear and smell _well_ , not good, Zhi. Now get off of Lin and come and help me with breakfast. Is your sister up yet?" LoLo was smirking down at me. Both Meili and Wu were still asleep on me.

"No, she's still sleeping. Lin, do you know about the shirshus?"

"Zhi, kitchen. People need their tea before they start answering your questions." LoLo pointed, and Zhi slid off me and headed for the kitchen.

LoLo opened his mouth, and I glared. "Don't even start with me."

He just grinned at me. "I said nothing." Damn that grin of his. He has a dimple in one cheek when he grins that I find extremely appealing. Which he knows, the cocky little shit. Firebenders, I swear.

"Hmmph." I shifted Meili a bit and he took her out of my arms, sitting her down in one of the armchairs. She blinked herself awake.

"Here, help me," I said, as I slowly eased myself out from under Wu. LoLo took up one of the throw pillows and together we laid him down on it. LoLo made sure he was comfortably on the couch. 

"He looks terrible," I said. "He needs a break."

LoLo sighed. "He made me promise not to say anything to Mako."

"Well, I didn't promise," I said crisply, and I picked up Meili. "I'm going to say something, damn it." 

"I'll go and get the Butterfly up, she's got school today. Would you put Meili in her chair for me?" LoLo gave my ass an appreciative pat as I walked past him. Old lech. I shot him a look which only made that damn dimple show before taking the baby into the kitchen. Zhi was already there, standing on a chair and carefully stirring the pot of jook, lips unconsciously counting along with the number of stirs.

I plunked Meili down in her little highchair and rummaged around until I found one of her bibs.

"I'm pretty sure their sense of smell is far better than their hearing," I told Zhi. "But we'd better check."

"How come their smell is so much better?" he asked.

"To compensate for the blindness."

"What's compensate mean?"

"It means to make up the difference, to try to make things even or the same. My mother was blind, and so she compensated for it by using her earthbending to sense things."

He turned around to stare at me. "Is that really true? Was your mother really blind?"

I nodded. "Yes. It's really true, she was blind."

"But you aren't blind. And Granny Su isn't blind." He knows my sister, of course. We do see a lot more of her and her family nowadays, which is something that I am happy about. Yes, believe it or not, Lin Beifong can be happy about something. Everyone applaud, now.

"No, we aren't. My mother was born that way, but we don't know why. It happens, sometimes."

"Could she smell really good? I mean, could she smell really _well_?"

I thought about this for a moment. "I suppose she could. I've never really thought about it, but yes, she had a pretty good sense of smell."

He mused on this. "Do you think if I didn't see for a whole day I could smell better?"

"Why don't you put on a blindfold and try it?"

His face lit up. "Hey! Okay! I could do that!"

"Do what?" Naoki slouched into the kitchen, bedhead every which way. She glanced over at me. "Morning, Lin."

"Morning, Butterfly."

She looked back at her brother. "Do what?" she asked again.

"Put on a blindfold all day and see if I could smell better."

She made a face at him. "That's weird. Why would you do that?"

He shrugged. "To find out what happens." Which is the boy's answer to everything, spirits help us all. He kept his parents hopping, this one.

Naoki blew a raspberry on her sister's cheek, getting a rare laugh out of her. Eight years old, this girl, and a hell of a bender. Did pretty well at school, too. Wu had her enrolled in some fancyass private academy. Well, not that Mako disagreed with her going to the academy, both of them were big proponents of education. Hell, for that matter, Wu raised a lot of money for a charity he ran that aimed to make sure that street kids got at least the basics of education. Asami gave him both her time and money for it as well. Not that I was surprised, mind you, Asami always has been a lovely woman, both inside and out. That charity was Wu's baby, though. He was devoted to it. It wasn't unusual to find him actually sitting with those street kids himself, reading with them. Qi was the first street rat he'd taught to read and write, but wasn't the last.

I dished up a small bowl of jook, blowing on it. Meili reached for it. "Too hot. Just hold on a minute." I poured a little milk into it and stirred. LoLo came back into the kitchen. "I've got her jook," I said, and he nodded. 

"Thanks, Zhi. Go ahead and sit down, your father will be down in a minute." He dished up jook for the older two kids and poured them tea.

"How come Papa's sleeping on the couch?" Zhi asked.

"He's tired," I said. "He's up a lot with Meili."

"Because of her teeth?"

"Yep." I found one of Meili's spoons and handed it to her. She immediately whapped it on her tray. Qi came in through the back door and gave me a double-take. I pointed.

"Don't start with me."

Qi just flashed a grin, saying nothing.

"Why is Wu on the sofa?" asked Mako as he came into the kitchen, before stopping in the middle of the doorway to stare at me. "Uh. Chief. Uh." He looked bewildered.

I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. The man was never at his sharpest when he first woke up; it was the best time to strike. "In case it's escaped your notice, your husband is exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Have you taken a good look at him lately? He looks like shhhh...he looks terrible. He could use a break, you know. When's the last time you've taken him away for a long weekend or something? For that matter, when is the last time you've taken him out for dinner?"

Mako hadn't moved. It took everything in me not to laugh at him; I could practically see the cogs in his brain trying to start working. If I was going to be fair I would have waited for him to have at least a cup of tea. Well. No one ever accused me of being fair.

"Uh..." was all he managed.

"Boss is real tired," said Qi in a disgruntled tone. "Keeps fallin' asleep in the car."

Leave it to Qi to needle Mako about Wu.

Mako turned to LoLo, frowning. "Why didn't you say anything?"

LoLo raised an eyebrow. "Well, for one thing, he asked me not to. For another, I fail to see why you need me or anyone else to bring it to your attention, Mako. Anyone with their eyes open could see it." He shot Mako a challenging look.

Oh ho, firebender meet firebender.

Mako's eyes narrowed.

"Daddy, everybody knows about Papa and Meili's teeth. Papa's so tired that his eyes are all sad and he never laughs." Naoki's voice was firm and she was scowling at her father.

Firebender meet baby firebender! That's my Butterfly. Things were starting to feel a little warm in the kitchen. Things often got a little warmish when you had a house full of firebenders, or so Izumi always told me. Mako glared daggers at his daughter, who was singularly unimpressed.

"It's true, Daddy! Don't be mad at _me_ if you're too busy at work to notice!" 

Mako whipped around and turned his ire on me. "What are you doing here anyhow?"

"Daddy, don't you pay attention to _anything_? Lin stays overnight with LoLo all the time!" Naoki rolled her eyes.

Well damn me anyhow. Little snitch! Based on LoLo's look, he hadn't realized she knew about it either.

"She parks her car around the corner," added Zhi. 

Betrayed by both of them! Well, at least Meili wasn't going to rat me out - if only because she wasn't talking yet. See if I take these kids out for ice cream anytime soon.

Mako grabbed the bridge of his nose and hung on for dear life.  "So what else is going on in my house that I don't know about? Anything else anyone feels the need to tell me? Please, don't anyone hold back. Spill away."

"Uncle Wei sometimes visits Qi in Qi's house," threw out Zhi. We all swiveled to to stare at him first, and then at Qi. Who was staring down at the table, hands clenched into fists.

"I beg your pardon," said Mako, his voice cold as he stared at Qi. Oh dear. Oh dear me indeed.

"Well, since you are asking, now is as good a time as any to announce that as of yesterday I put in the paperwork for my retirement. I let the president know officially." There. That should take the heat off of Qi. Wei, huh? _Fascinating_. Wu and I need to sit down with a glass of wine or two and do some catching up.

Mako spun around to stare at me, and then he got shouty. "What? What the fuck are you talking about!"

"Daddy said the f-word," gasped Zhi. "Daddy, you aren't supposed to say that word!"

"You heard me!" I said. "And I will thank you not to shout at me, either."

"Lin, did you really?" Unlike Mako, LoLo was smiling at me.

I looked at him, trying not to smile. "There will be a transition time of course, but I did. It's time. It's past time."

LoLo laughed and then quickly made his way across the kitchen to take my face in his hands and plant a kiss on me.

"Good for you, old girl," he said, and he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. I rested my forehead against his.

"I'll probably be bored out of my skull, you know," I said.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find something for you to do to pass the time," he replied, still smiling.

"Kiss her again, LoLo!" giggled Naoki, and he did.

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded Mako. "I don't understand a damn thing that's happening! I haven't even had any tea yet, people!"

"Mako, don't be grouchy," said Wu, and there he was with his arms around Mako's waist, leaning his head into the back of his neck. 

Mako turned around and took Wu's face into his hands, glaring down at him. "Why haven't you said anything if you are so tired? You do look awful!"

Wu smiled and rested the palm of his hand on Mako's chest. "Awful, is it? Thank you very much. No, don't look at me like that. I'm just a little tired, that's all. I'm fine."

Mako shook his head. "No, you aren't. Wu, why wouldn't you say something? Don't do that. Don't hide from me, you know how stupid I am about noticing that kind of thing. Why haven't you woken me up to help you? You know I'd get up with her!"

"It will pass. She won't be teething forever. She's so sensitive, you know. She's having a hard time, poor little fish."

It was like the rest of us weren't even in the room. Mako ran his hands gently down Wu's face, his fingers tracing the circles under his eyes. 

"I can't have you tired like this. What would we all do if something happened to you? I'll make the arrangements today, we'll take a couple of days together, just you and me, go somewhere quiet. The kids can stay with LoLo."

"Oh, Mako..."

"Would you rather go by yourself? So you could really rest? Say so if that's what you want, I don't care, I just don't want to see you like this. I'm sorry, I should have noticed, I should have, I've been so busy at work lately, but that's not an excuse."

"My very own King of Excuses," Wu said softly, and he smiled up at Mako. After a moment, Mako smiled with him and then took him tightly into his arms.

"I mean it. You need a break. It _will_ happen."

I exchanged a look with LoLo. He took up Meili's jook and a spoon and sat down next to her. "Open up now, blue eyes," he said, and shoveled the first load in.

I motioned to Naoki and Zhi to finish their breakfast. Qi was staring down at the table, breakfast untouched, hands still clenched. I put a hand to the kid's shoulder and gave it a bit of a squeeze. 

"Obviously I missed out on all kinds of excitement. Someone fill me in?" Wu turned in Mako's arms to look at the rest of us. He still looked tired, but his eyes had regained their usual sparkle.

"Daddy said the f-word," said Zhi.

"Don't tattle, Zhi!" said Naoki irritably.

"Ah, besides the f-word, please." Wu pulled loose of Mako to go to the table and pour a cup of tea. He filled it to the brim with milk and sugar and handed it to Mako, who automatically took it and sat down at the table.

Zhi sat up straight. "Well, Daddy got mad because everyone told him you were tired, and then LoLo kissed Lin two times, and then I told Daddy that sometimes Uncle Wei came to visit Qi -"

"You tattled it, you mean," interrupted Naoki.

"Daddy ASKED!" said Zhi with a glare towards his sister.

Wu cleared his throat and shot them a look. The squabbling immediately ceased and desisted.

"And Lin told she was retiring," threw in Naoki before Zhi could start up again.

"Well," said Wu. "Congratulations, Lin, I know you've been thinking about retirement for some time now, it must have been a big step for you to finally do it." He smiled at me. "And I hope we're done with you sneaking in and out of this house like some sort of Blue Spirit."

Mako put down his tea cup. "Wait, did you know about Lin and LoLo?"

Wu raised a eyebrow at him. "Don't be daft, Mako." He turned his attention to Zhi, and his face grew grave. "Yaozhi, you and I have discussed people's privacy before. I won't tolerate you spying and tattling on people. Whatever Qi does in Qi's own home is Qi's business, and none of yours. Or mine or Daddy's, for that matter. Qi is an adult and as such does not need to justify or explain anything to the rest of us. Do I make myself _entirely_ clear?"

Zhi looked down at the table, abashed. "Yes, Papa," he whispered.

"I certainly do hope so." He nodded at Qi, who looked at him rather desperately. 

"Boss-"

"Your business, Qi," said Wu firmly. Qi looked back down again.

"How did everyone know about Lin and LoLo except for me? How long has this been going on?" Mako threw his hands up in the air. Everyone ignored him. I think we all knew the answer to that. Shit. Even the four-year-old knew the answer to that. How that man can be so damned observant while on the clock and yet not notice a thing going on under his own roof I will never know. I'm guessing he just wants to relax when he's at home. Beats developing a drinking problem like half the other detectives that work for me, I suppose.

"Now, Naoki, you need to finish your breakfast and scoot upstairs and get dressed. You are going to be late for school, no getting around it, but I'll send a note with you. Qi, can you take her this morning?" Wu glanced over at Qi.

Qi nodded without looking up.

"Excellent. Thank you. Zhi, finish your breakfast. LoLo, do you have Meili in hand?"

LoLo smiled at him. "She's fine."

"Then if you all will excuse me, I think I am going to write Naoki her note and then go back to bed for another hour or two. I really am tired." He turned to look at his husband. "You could call that little place down the coast we stayed at the one time a few years back. I don't remember the name, but it was right on the beach? It had all the sculptures made of all the wood that washed in from the ocean?"

Mako smiled. "The Spindrift Inn."

"I'd like you to come, but only if you'll actually let me rest." Wu smiled back at him.

"Whatever you need," said Mako. "I promise."

"By the way, Lin and LoLo have been doing this since we left on our honeymoon. Do try to catch up, my love." With that Wu left the kitchen.

"But that was almost five years ago," said Mako, looking around the room for support.

"Maybe we should put up some signs, Daddy," said Naoki as she put her bowl and cup into the sink. "You know, to fill you in on things."

Oh that sassy girl. Her teenage years were going to be a good time. A good time for _me_ , that is. Not such a good time for Mako, I'd lay yuan.

Mako shot her a look, which she ignored to sail out of the room. He turned his eyes to me. "I don't understand. You're retiring?"

I pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. "Mako, I'm done. I don't want to do the job anymore. I'm tired, I'm burned out, and my heart's not in it. I've been a cop for over 40 years now. I think it's time to walk away before it kills me."

"But who will take over?"

"That's not up to me. I recommended Song - he's a good cop and has plenty of experience and has been my second in command for a few years now - but it's up to the President, of course."

LoLo hauled Meili out of her chair. "Come along, Zhi, let's go get dressed." Zhi opened his mouth to protest, but LoLo shook his head and pointed towards the door. As soon as they walked out Qi stood up and fairly bolted out the back door, leaving Mako alone with me.

"I just...I didn't realize you were thinking all that seriously about retirement."

I sighed. "Mako. I'm sixty-two years old. How long did you think I was going to do the job?"

He shook his head. "No, I get it. I guess I just wasn't thinking about it that way."

"Listen, I want to tell you something." 

"Okay."

"I had assumed, for a few years there, that you would make a good replacement. Oh, don't get me wrong, Song is more than capable, but there are reasons that I had hoped you'd be interested. The thing is, though, is that you're pretty young for the position. Sometimes it's not about capability but about assumed capability, if that makes sense. People do not assume that a thirty year old can lead a police force, and that would have been a battle you would have faced no matter what. But it's more than that now. Mako, you have a family. You've got three kids and a husband whom you are clearly not paying enough attention to."

"I pay attention to him!" His eyes flashed.

I stared right back at him. "You're busy and distracted with work as it is. Do you think that would improve if you took on a leadership position? Mako, I grew up with a mother who was the Chief of Police. She had no fucking time for me or my sister. Do you honestly think I would do that to the kids? To Wu? To you, for that matter? It's a shitty job. It's exhausting and time consuming and takes everything out of you. It's no job for someone with a spouse and children, especially small children. I can't be a part of putting you there. What you do later is up to you, of course. But at least I won't be a part of it. It's not because I don't think you can't do the job. I know you could, and in many ways better than Song could. If you were single, I'd fight tooth and nail to make sure you were my replacement, despite your age and lack of experience. But you aren't single. I love those kids, and they deserve a father who has time for them. Raava knows Wu deserves it as well. You can be pissed at me, call me an interfering old bitch, and I'll own that. And as I said, what you do ten years from now is up to you, it certainly won't be in my hands at that point. But all I ask is that you remember that it's just a job. I know it's important to you, I know you take it seriously, I know you give a damn about it."

He looked down at his hands. "I do give a damn."

"Well you should. The second that cops stop giving a damn they need to go look for another job. Look, I know this is not what you were expecting, all those years ago." I gestured around the kitchen. "You were single and I could always count on you to put in plenty of overtime. I know that marriage and kids and a house was not in your plans! Life happens, spirits know. But you have to adjust. You cannot be the cop you once thought you were going to be. Not without sacrificing your family to it. Look at Feng! He's got a wife and four kids. He's a damn good cop, Feng. But he knows who he is and how much he can give to the job while still having enough left over to go home and be a husband and father. You've got to find that balance, Mako. You can't be everything to everyone. The truth of the matter is that crime is never ever going to stop in this city. My mother couldn't stop it, I couldn't stop it, Song won't stop it, and neither will you. All we can do as cops is try to keep it from taking over. But there are plenty of cops in this city. The weight of it does not lie on _your_ shoulders. Your kids and your husband only have one you. Do you understand what I am saying to you?" 

He looked at me, and he nodded. "I understand."

"Good." I stood up and clapped him on the back. "I need to go. I've got to get home and get changed and I'm going to be late as it is. I'll grab some breakfast on the way. Don't tattle to LoLo on me, though, he'd have my ass if he thought I wasn't eating what he considers a good breakfast."

"So you and LoLo? You have a thing?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, we have a _thing_. What exactly that thing is I'm not sure, but it's a fairly well-established thing, Mako. Everyone knows except you."

"Everyone?"

"Well. Maybe not Tenzin."

He looked at me, and suddenly he grinned. "You should bring LoLo with you next time we go for dinner on the Island."

I raised an eyebrow right back at him. "Are you trying to stir up shit, Detective?"

He threw his hands up in mock innocence. "You've clearly got excellent taste. Everyone knows that firebenders make the best lovers. No reason not to let the world know you are a proponent of discerned enlightenment."

"Proponent of discerned enlightenment?"

"I've been with Wu for years now. Some of it was bound to rub off."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"I have no idea, but it sounds like something he'd say, doesn't it?" He laughed.

"Call and make the reservations for a long weekend at that little place he wants to go to. I'll give you the time off, take him for at least four nights. I'm still the boss, after all, and you've got vacation time coming to you. LoLo and I will keep an eye on the kids. Hell, for that matter you could send Zhi over to stay with Bolin and Opal, he and San would have a great time together. I know Opal'd say yes if you told her you were taking Wu away for a few days."

"That's a good idea. I'll give her a call." He stood up.

"Okay, I'm out of here. You'll make it in before I do, tell Song I'm on my way, would you?"

"Will do, Chief."

We stood there awkwardly, both of us debating a hug. We ended up with sort of a mutual shoulder patting thing. Well. Can't build Ba Sing Se in a day, I suppose, and it's not like either one of us is particularly demonstrative. Mutual shoulder patting is pretty good for us.

One of these days we might just make a hug. The world will probably come to an end if we do, but fuck it. Live a little dangerously, Lin Beifong.


	5. Floats Like A Butterfly, Stings Like A Bee

It was about 10:30 in the morning and I was finishing up some of my earthbending forms when my phone rang. _Who the fuck is calling me_ , I thought to myself. A woman retires, she expects people to assume she's out and about, living the glamorous life. Not that I live a glamorous life, mind you, but it's the principle of the spirits-damned thing.

I debated answering it. I did. I went down my short list of who might actually be calling me. Su? Unlikely, I had just gotten a letter from her the day before and I couldn't imagine her shelling out for the expense of a long distance radio call just to tell me she was having another grandchild or something. I had just left LoLo a few hours earlier. (I didn't sneak out! I left after breakfast!) People generally didn't call me up just to chat. The only reason I kept the damn phone after I retired is because both Su and Mako insisted. Shit. Probably an emergency or something. Damn it all anyhow.

I answered it. "Beifong here."

There was a slight pause. "Is this Lin Beifong?"

"That's what I said, wasn't it?"

"This is Madame Ume of the Plumwood Academy. I am the Headmistress here at the school."

What the fuck now?

"Yeah?"

"We have you listed as a contact person for one of our students, Naoki Hou-Ting?"

Oh _shit_.

"What's wrong with her? Is she okay?"

The woman's spirits-damned pompous voice kept going. "We attempted to reach her parents, but neither was available. Your name was next on the contact list."

"I said, is she okay?" Quit wasting my time, damn it, and tell me what's going on. Spirits, I hate people who love the sound of their own voices, and clearly this woman wanted to roll over and hump her own vocal cords.

"I regret to inform you that Naoki has been suspended for the rest of the day for fisticuffs. I am afraid we will need someone to come and pick her up."

"And for the third time, _is she okay?_ "

Her voice tightened. "You might well ask if the other student is unharmed. Naoki has sustained a minor injury; however the other student has sustained far worse injuries."

I'll just bet the other student did. Naoki's got a typical firebender temper. Just like her father. Add that to the fact that she likes to hang out at Yumi's dojo whenever she gets the chance and I'd be surprised if she didn't cream the other student into oblivion. My Butterfly could throw down, she really could.

"So I'm guessing you want me to come down and get her?"

"Since we cannot reach her parents, we will need you to come to the Academy."

"Give me a few minutes. I'm on my way." I dropped the phone back into its cradle. Well. Shit. It beat sitting around my flat pretending like I was going to do anything useful today, at least.

I quickly made myself presentable before getting in the car and driving over there. I wondered where the hell Wu was. Mako was often unreachable at work, but Wu was usually around. He'd been around when I left earlier in the morning. Well, I'd find out later. For now I'd just go and get her. I parked in the lot and walked in. There weren't any signs directing me to where I needed to go - of course not - but I flagged down some snot-nosed kid and made him give me an escort. And no, I didn't bite him.

She was sitting on a bench outside the Headmistress's office, staring at her shoes. Ah hell, even those little braids of hers were drooping.

"Well, what'd you do now, kiddo?"

She jumped a little and looked up at me. Oh now, she was going to have a hell of a shiner on her left eye. And why the fuck hadn't anyone in this cut-rate establishment given the girl some ice? As much yuan as I am sure Wu was shelling out every year, the least they could do was give her some ice for it. I dropped down next to her.

"Hi, Lin," she said, in a sad little voice. Her face was tear-streaked, but I wasn't going to mention it. Even nine year old girls have their pride. I should know.

"Where's your Papa?" I asked.

She shrugged. "He had some meeting this morning. I guess Daddy is out, too."

"Most likely." I sighed. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

She muttered something, too low to hear.

"Can't hear you, Butterfly. You need to speak up a little."

She stared at her feet and kicked them out in front of her.

"Kenji said that Papa didn't abdicate. He said Papa was kicked out from being a king." She glanced up at me. "He's a big fat liar. A big fat-" and here she took a little breath "- _fucking_ liar." A little side-look to see if I was going to respond to the curse. Ah, kiddo. There's not a curse spoken that hasn't been spoken by me. You're going to have to get up a little earlier in the morning to shock me with your nine year old baby trashmouth.

"Well, sure he's a fucking liar. You know that, though. You know what the truth is. You know your father stepped down, and you know why. So why'd you hit him?"

Now she was burning with indignation. "Because he can't say those things about Papa! They aren't true!"

"Naoki, baby, if you are going to hit every single person in this world that tells a lie about anybody you love, you're going to do nothing but fight your whole life. People are stupid rotten vicious assholes. The keyword here being stupid. I'm not saying it's a good thing, or a nice thing, but it's damn sure a true thing."

She nodded, miserably. "Everybody is going to be really mad at me." Ah, there went the tears. Damn. This is not my fucking area here. What I know to do with crying kids would fill up one sentence, and that sentence would be: Chang shit nothing.

At this point the door to the Headmistress's office opened and a boy walked out with a woman who was presumably his mother. Oh shiiiiiiiiiiit. Naoki had given that kid - who looked to be twice her size, mind you - a hell of a beat down. He looked like he'd been through a gang of wolfbats and come out the wrong end. Two black eyes, a bloody nose, and what I guessed to be a damn good right-cross had split his lip right open. By the way he was walking, I'd guess she got him a few times on his body as well. His school uniform was about in two pieces.

I was pretty proud of my girl.

Another woman walked out behind them, and her jaws started flapping. Ah, the vocal cord humper. I'd say we had Madame Ume, in the flesh. Overly-perfumed flesh, might I add. Lay off the cologne a bit, sister.

"Are you Lin Beifong?" she asked me.

"Guilty as charged," I said. She sniffed at that, and then turned to Naoki.

"Naoki, I believe you owe Kenji an apology," she said. "You must understand that here at Plumwood Academy we cannot condone fighting for any reason whatsoever. We take pride in the fact that we produce upstanding ladies and gentlemen. I am sure your father, given his background, would understand."

I'm damn sure that the father she's referring to would have a few choice things to say to anyone who was referring to his background. The other one might fry her to a crisp if he heard her talking to his baby this way.

"I am extremely disappointed in your behavior today, young lady. _Extremely disappointed._ Naturally some sort of punitive measures will need to be taken-"

Yeah, I'd had enough of that.

"You have any ice?" I interrupted.

"I beg your pardon," she said, in the aggrieved tones of a blowhard who isn't used to having their monologues sidelined.

"Ice. You have some?"

"I don't understand you."

"Huh. Let me spell it for you. I-C-E. You know, frozen water? Do you have some?"

"Why on earth would I need any ice?"

"I don't know and I don't care why _you_ would need any ice. However, she could stand to put some ice on that eye, it's swelling up. So again, let me ask, do you have any ice?"

"Certainly not!"

"You have no ice? In this entire school? No waterbenders that could hook us up?"

"No!"

"Well, what the hell kind of school is this that doesn't have a healer of some sort? Naoki, get your things. We're going to go and do something for that eye."

"Madame Beifong! Naoki cannot simply just walk out of here! I don't think you understand the seriousness of what she's done!"

Oh for the love of spit-shined Raava. I was starting to feel the urge to pop this woman in the eye myself.

"This school has a certain reputation to uphold. Certain standards to keep. The students here belong to some of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of Republic City. If this kind of thing got out, it could cause quite a scandal."

Scandal. She has got to be fucking kidding me. I'm a Beifong. We _invented_ the word scandal. My blind mother ran away at age twelve to party with the Avatar and my aristocratic grandmother kicked my grandfather out for a time and Su still doesn't have any idea who her father was and then there was that whole little smidgen of scandal about my nephew and his dictator lady love and the damn Colossus that took out half the city not to mention my other nephew that ran off with the daughter of the leader of the Air Nomads. She thinks a schoolyard fight equals a scandal? Shit. Hell, if there was any scandal here it's that a kid his size let Naoki kick his ass like that.

The boy's mother picked that very unfortunate moment to speak up. "Well, I'm sure we have to grant the girl a little leeway. After all, one does not know where she actually came from and her...other father...is not, shall we say, the usual Plumwood Academy parent?" She smiled condescendingly down at Naoki. "Of course the former King is always welcome in all the best homes in Republic City. I do hope you appreciate how generous it is that he has taken in you and your siblings the way he has."

Did that high-handed bitch just insult my baby to her face? Did she just fucking insult Mako?

Naoki got two spots of color high up on her cheekbones and her eyes narrowed. I've known this child since she was knee-high to a canyon crawler and I'm telling you right now, there were going to be some fireworks starting up pretty soon. The child is being raised - and trained - by someone who is arguably one of the best firebenders in the world. She's nine years old and can already manage enough control over her flame to propel herself short distances in the air and that's master level firebending, right there. If she went off, she'd take this whole damn building down with her. Not that I wouldn't mind seeing the rest of the folk standing here get a little hot under the collar but Mako would have my ass if I didn't talk her down.

"Up," I said to Naoki. "We're leaving." I put a hand on her shoulder and started to guide her away. "Where's your bag?" She reached under the bench and dragged it out, and I took it from her. "Okay, let's roll."

"Madame Beifong! I really must insist-"

"Take it up with her father," I said. "Pick one. The former king or the one who risked his life saving your sorry ungrateful asses from being annihilated nine years back. It makes no damn difference to me. I'm going to take this girl and get her something for her eye. And then I'm going to buy her lunch to congratulate her for kicking the shit out of a kid who clearly gets his less-than-stellar attitude from his snobby twat of a mother. Your spirits damned Academy can go fuck itself so far as I am concerned."

And with that we made our exit. Exit with style, my mother used to say. Of course in her case she meant exit while shooting off your mouth and burning your bridges behind you. Never let it be said that Su and I didn't learn that lesson. We learned it by heart.

I stowed Naoki in the passenger side of the car and drove us over to Chin's. It used to be located next to the old police station but was destroyed along with the rest of downtown; nowadays it was relocated right where it should be, a block away from the new station. I've been going to Chin's since I was a kid. The Chin running the place now was Junior, who had gone to school with Su. I parked and steered Naoki inside.

"Okay, you go into the Ladies and wash your hands and face. Clean yourself up and then meet me at our regular table."

She nodded and dragged herself off. I greeted Chin the Third and Junior came hustling from behind the counter.

"Chief!" he said. I've told him half a million times that Song is the Chief now, but he doesn't seem to care. Shit, for that matter Song still calls me Chief as well. Mako will probably call me Chief until the day I die. Well. What can you do?

"Hey, what can you throw together for a black eye?"

He looked at me like I'd just grown another nose. "Who has a black eye?"

"Mako's baby."

His own eyes bulged out. "Meili has a black eye?"

"What? What the fuck are you talking about? She's two years old, where would she get a black eye?"

Junior and Third looked at each other.

"You don't mean Zhi, do you?" said Third.

"I mean Naoki! Who the hell else would I mean? What, you think someone just up and walked into Mako's house and got past LoLo to lay into Meili or Zhi?"

Third boggled at me. "Wait, someone actually managed to punch Naoki?"

Well, he did have a point there. "You should have seen the other kid. She tore him a new asshole."

"Now see, that I'd believe," said Third.

"I'll bring her something," said Junior. "Where is she?"

"I sent her to the Ladies to clean up. She'll be out in a second, I told her to go to our table. Junior, I need to use your phone."

He pointed to the phone on the wall. "It's all yours. Let me go and get something for Naoki."

As I started to dial I saw Naoki come out of the Ladies, Third examining her eye and escorting her to our regular table. Junior came out with a bag full of ice, wrapped in a towel. He sat down next to her and gently placed it on her eye, smiling at her. By the time I was done with the conversation Junior's mother, Madame Chin, as well as his wife, Madame Junior and even Third's wife (she was just Cho) were all at the table, cooing over Naoki and Madame Chin was feeding her candy. Candy! I brought that kid here for lunch!

"What the hell is this, some sort of a party?" I didn't dare say a word to Madame Chin about the whole candy business, though. For one thing, I had no actual idea how old she was and for another, she had once grabbed me by the ear when I was a kid and hauled me back into the kitchen and lectured me for a half hour when she overheard me sassing my mother. I'm pretty damn sure that she'd feel completely free to do the same thing now.

Everyone cleared out (after throwing down some kisses on the girl, and leaving her some candy) and Third promised to return with some lunch. There she sat, towel full of ice on her eye.

"How's it feeling?"

"Hurts."

"I'll just bet it does."

"Have you ever had one?"

"A shiner? Spirits yes, more times than I can count. It'll turn all sorts of colors before it's gone for good. Although I suppose we could give Korra a call and ask her to come over and do that water thing on it. Probably not a bad idea, at that."

"Has Korra ever had one?"

"I'd lay yuan on it. There's probably no part of Korra that hasn't been banged up and left for dead."

"Yumi, too."

"Sure, Yumi too."

Third brought us out our lunch. The good thing about coming to this restaurant for 60 years is that I don't know that I've ever had to look at a menu. They know what I like to eat. I started bringing Mako and Bolin here back in the days when I first knew them; I suspected they probably weren't eating well. Scratch that: I suspected Mako wasn't eating well. He'd go without to make sure Bolin was eating right. When he first came to work for me I'd bring him in every day for lunch. There's not much salary involved for a rookie cop, and don't think it had escaped my notice in the locker room that the kid was wearing the same beat to shit undershirt every day. Not that it was an issue now - you had best believe Wu made sure each and every one of them was well turned out before they walked out their front door.

"Put the ice down for awhile. You don't want to freeze your eyeball out."

"Could I really freeze my eyeball out?"

"What, do I look like a healer? I don't know, probably." I dug into my lunch.

She picked at her lunch, frowning.

"Cheer up," I said, around my noodles. "At least nothing's broken." I'm not sure how cheering that was, but it sounded like something my mother would have said. The door to the restaurant swung open, the bell above it tinkling. Mako came in. Good, they managed to get hold of him. You just have to know who to call at the station to radio out to the cars. He spotted us right away and came over, pulling off his right-hand glove as he came.

Naoki spotted him as he walked across the restaurant. She drooped even more than before, which I hadn't known was possible. He came and sat down next to her, nodding at me. He took one look at her eye and his own eyes narrowed, just a bit. Kept the rest of his face impassive, though, I'll give him that much.

"Hi, Daddy." Her little face was downright woebegone.

His hands reached out and he very gently cradled her face in them. He carefully probed around her eye. "Does it hurt?"

"Uh huh."

"Did you put ice on it?"

"Mister Junior gave me some."

"Didn't they give you some at school?"

I snorted. "According to Madame My Shit Don't Stink, they had no ice at the school." Well, that earned me a side-eye glare.

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Her eyes filled up with tears. Oh, well played, kid. If there is one thing Mako has no defenses against, it's tears.

"Don't cry, Butterfly." He gathered her into his arms.

What did I tell you? He looked over at me helplessly. I shrugged. When people start crying on me I find my way to the exit. What can I say? Play to your strengths. You want some someone to kick some ass and take some names? Call Lin Beifong. You want help with a nine year old crying a river down the front of your uniform? Call your damn husband.

There was some sort of explanation happening. Incomprehensible, mind you, through all the sobbing, but she was trying. This was going to take forever and my lunch was getting cold.

"Apparently some shitstack named Kenji made some pretty damn disparaging remarks about Wu's abdication and our girl there took offense. Based on what flew out of his mother's mouth when I was there I'm pretty sure I know where his informed opinions are coming from." There. Good enough. Back to my lunch.

He took up a napkin and dabbed carefully at her eyes. "Did you bend at him?"

"No!"

"Good girl. Did you chi block him?"

She shook her head, braids flying. "Yumi says you can only use that on someone who is really trying to hurt you." She scoffed. "Kenji is a big wimp."

"I'll say," I said, with a mouth full of noodles. "She kicked the ever-living shit out of that kid."

Mako started squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"How old is that kid, Naoki?" I waved a chopstick at her.

"He's fourteen," she said.

"Twice her size," I added, and took another bite.

Now Mako was starting to look a little pissed. "Wait, so a fourteen year old is the one who did this to you?" He scowled.

At that point Third showed up with some lunch for Mako. "Hey there, Mako, how's life?"

"Besides someone taking a shot at my kid? Fine, I guess." He kissed Naoki on the top of her head, slid her back down the bench and tapped her bowl with one finger. "Eat your lunch."

"Well, I hear our girl there gave back better than she got." Third winked at Naoki. "Grandma's making up some egg custard tarts for you to take home to your brother and sister and your Papa, so don't leave without them, okay, Butterfly?"

"Okay, Mister Third." 

Third headed back to the kitchen.

"I may as well throw in now that I might have said a few choice things to the headmistress there," I said. Mako put down his chopsticks and glared at me.

"What did you say?"

"She said Kenji's Mom was a snobby twat." Naoki grinned. There we go, first smile I'd seen out of that kid since I picked her up.

"CHIEF!"

I waved my hand, "Ah, just tell 'em I'm senile and Wu can throw some more yuan their way. It will all be forgotten."

"Lin, what's a twat?" Naoki leaned in eagerly.

Mako quelled that with a look. "You, young lady, can eat your lunch." He looked back over at me and sighed. "Snobby twat? Really?"

"One of the snobbier twats I've ever had the displeasure of meeting."

"Chief..." he said warningly.

"I calls 'em as I sees 'em," I said, and shrugged. "So I am guessing you want me to take her home? Is Wu home?"

"He had a meeting this morning. I'm not sure how long it's supposed to last." He looked back down at Naoki and sighed. "Look, I need to get back. I'll ask Third to get this to go. Chief, I really appreciate you going to get her and everything. Thank you."

I waved my hand. "Yeah, well, I had nothing better planned with my day than to clip my toenails. Or scrub my sink. Gave me a little excitement, eh?" I gave Naoki a gentle elbow jab.

"Butterfly, we'll talk more about this when I get home from work, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"Finish your lunch. And don't forget the tarts or your father will never let us hear the end of it."

"I love you, Daddy."

Mako's face gentled. He leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you too." He took his bowl of noodles in hand and waved Third down, motioning for him to box them up to go.

Back in the day I would have never pegged Mako as a traditional husband and father, but even I have to admit that having children took some of the rough and angry edges off of him. He looked happier with kids. He was a good father. Not that I'd ever tell him that, no need to let the man get a swelled head or anything, bad enough that he was better looking than anyone else in the room. But fatherhood suited him.

"Finish your lunch, kid, and then I'll take you home."

By the time I got Naoki home - after some more fussing from Madame Junior and Cho, which included a big dish of ice cream, for the love of Raava, that kid is going to have a sugar high into next week - I saw Wu's car was parked in the garage. 

Naoki and I walked in and Wu was right there. He must have been waiting for us.

"Lin," he said, nodding to me. "Thank you very much for going to get her." She crept out from behind me, and he sucked in air. "Well. I can't say I'm too happy about that." He stared at her eye for a moment. "Did you have any lunch?"

"Lin took me for lunch, Papa. At Chin's."

That got me another nod. "Take a seat, Naoki, I'll be right back." He walked over to where the phone was, and dialed, fingers drumming impatiently. He got no answer, and dialed again. "Asami? It's Wu. Is Korra there?...Ah, no, that's okay, I can call her there...hmm?...Naoki got into a fight today...no, at school...well, she got punched in the eye...mmmhmmm...right, I was going to ask Korra if she'd mind....uh huh...hang on." He called into the kitchen. "LoLo, what are we having for dinner tonight?" He turned his focus back to the phone. "What?...no, no..." 

"We're having duck tonight." LoLo came in, drying his hands on a towel. He stared at Naoki, and then came to sit down next to her on the couch, tilting her chin up so he could look at the eye.

"Yes, just come for dinner, then, LoLo says he's making roast duck...okay, we'll expect you both around six. Thanks, Asami. See you then. Bye." He hung up. "Okay, Korra is coming to do something for the eye."

LoLo nodded. "We should probably put some ice on it before she gets here."

"She had some ice on it at Chin's," I said, and LoLo kissed Naoki's forehead. He stood up a bit stiffly and gave me a kiss for good measure.

"Korra can take a look at that knee tonight as well," I said pointedly. "You know you are supposed to be taking it easy."

He flapped the kitchen towel at me. "Stop your fussing at me, woman. The knee is what it is. I'm fine." 

"Fine my sweet aaaa- _foot_ ," I said, and then he actually snapped the towel at me and caught me across the ass. "Hey!" I yelped, and Naoki giggled. Wu laughed as well.

"I'm going back to my kitchen before Lin gets her revenge," he said, and blew a kiss at me before he went back into the kitchen. Wu came and sat next to Naoki. I plopped myself into a chair. It's my favorite chair here. Very comfortable. Sometimes Meili comes to share it with me. I should chase her out, but that takes too much energy. It's not because I enjoy having a wiggling two year old sitting in my lap, just so we're clear.

"So. What happened?"

"Kenji from school said that you didn't abdicate but were kicked out." He kept staring at her.

"And?"

"That's what he said."

"What else did he say? Naoki, I know you didn't get into a fight with someone just because he said that about me. Daddy has trained you far too well to lose your cool just over that. So what else did he say?"

Naoki stared at her feet. "I don't want to tell." Her lower lip went out.

He put a finger under her chin and lifted it up. "Darling, I know how hard you've been working to keep your temper. I know he had to have said something else. What did he say?"

Her eyes filled up. Wu waited. Mako would have caved at this point, but Wu was made of stronger stuff than that.

"He said that Daddy was an ex-criminal, and that it was a shame that you married him. And that Zhi was trash, just like the trash Daddy found him in, and that Meili was nothing but the reject of a disgraced warrior." Now the tears were coming. "He said that nobody even wanted me, either."

I might kill that little punk. I just might. I'll throw his mother in for free.

Wu sighed, and held out his arms to her and she flung herself into them. He wrapped her up. "Oh darling, I know you know those things aren't true. But it hurts to hear, doesn't it?"

She nodded into his chest and sobbed. He rubbed her back. "The thing is...your father did work for the Triads, and we've told you that. And you know why he did and you know why he left. And you know how you and Zhi and Meili came to be part of our family. None of these things are secrets, Butterfly. But darling, all three of you are wanted. Daddy and I want you. LoLo wants you, and Qi, and Lin, too."

"Uncle Chow and Aunt LiLing didn't want me!"

"That's not true. They wanted you. They couldn't keep you at the house with them, Butterfly, because you were burning everything down and they had no way to protect you or themselves. That's what happens when babies are firebending prodigies. But Daddy and I wanted you, too. We were so happy when you came to us."

She snuffled. "Even though I burned up my bed?"

He scoffed. "It was getting to be too small for you anyhow. I was glad to buy a new one."

"Even though I burned down the curtains?"

"Darling, you say burnt curtains. I say, reason to redecorate!"

She giggled, just a little. "Papa, you're silly."

He gave her a resounding kiss. "Yes, everyone knows it. Now. Do you know what I want you to do?"

She shook her head.

"I want you to go and change out of your school clothes. Meili is still taking her nap, I think, so please don't wake her. Zhi is out back with San, so once you are changed you can go and play with them. Okay? Oh, before you go, quick question. Kenji, that's the boy whose father owns the electric company, right?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Okay. Thanks for telling me."

"Oh Papa! I almost forgot! Grandma Chin sent home some egg custard tarts for us. I left them in Lin's car, though."

"Well, why don't you go run and get them first and then you can take one each out to Zhi and San when you go outside? You can give the rest to LoLo."

"Good idea!"

"I have been known to have them." He winked at her. "Now go on, get the tarts and get out of your school clothes. And remember to be quiet so your sister doesn't wake up."

"Okay!" She dashed out of the room.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"She beat the crap out of that kid. He's about twice her size, too."

"Yes, I know who he is. I also know who his mother is. I have had... _dealings_...with her before."

"She said some pretty damn unacceptable things about Mako and Naoki and the rest of the kids right to Naoki's face, Wu. It's pretty clear where the son got it from. I might have called her a snobby twat."

"She _is_ a snobby twat." He got up, and smiled. It was not a particularly nice smile. "Excuse me for just a moment, would you?" He walked over and dialed a number. "Jun-Yi! Darling, it's Wu...oh fine, just fine, and you must tell me, has the new grandchild arrived yet?...No! Another one! Well, when you go over there today please pass along my congratulations to your son....oh, I know you are spoiling them all to pieces, too, you don't fool me!...Listen, I am completely pressed for time, but can I ask you for a huge favor?...Oh, you are a dear. Look, it's such a tawdry thing, I know, but I'm afraid I don't think I am going to be able to serve on the same committee with Misaki any longer...it's a terribly long story, and you know of course I will give you all the details later, but let's just say she had some fairly unsavory things to say about Mako and the children. The thing is, she said them to Naoki...oh yes she did...I do try to be forgiving, but...mmmhmmm...well, I knew you would understand...Yes. I agree...mmmhmmmm....You will? Darling, I am in your complete debt. You. Me. Kwong's next week....yes, I'm free, that's perfect....no, I won't hear of it, my treat...and you had better bring me a photograph of that new granddaughter to feast my eyes on!...Yes, you have a lovely evening as well. I will see you next week, then! Kisses to the baby! Bye!"

He hung up, and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Did you just get that kid's mother kicked off some committee?"

"Only the committee for the Spring Festival, which is, amongst those of us who do these sorts of things, the most coveted committee of them all. Jun-Yi is the grande dame of society functions. She owes me one. She took on a much younger lover - younger than her youngest son, even - and I had them over for dinner last month. Dinner with the former king of the Earth Kingdom means something in this city, you know." He rolled his eyes to show me what he thought of that. "Damn handsome boy. Only wants her money, of course, but she's not a fool. She knows that. She'll get her money's worth, I'm sure. When Jun-Yi drops Misaki from the committee the society she cares so much about will drop _her_ like three day old mochi." He snapped his fingers.

"Wu. You devious little shit."

He looked at me, and his mouth tightened. "I don't care what people say about me. You know I don't. They've said it all, and they'll say it again. But Mako and the children are off limits. _Period_. I'm not inclined to be forgiving when it comes to them."

"I'll drink to that," I said.

"Excellent idea," he said. "I could use one as well. I have wine. I'll get it." He walked into the kitchen and returned a few moments later with a bottle and two glasses. "From Chow," he said.

"You really care about all that?"

"All that what?"

"Committees and shit."

He poured me a glass and handed it over, taking a glass for himself and sitting on the couch. "Well, I do care about the street kids. I care a great deal about them. You know why."

"Yeah, I know why." This was good wine. I'm not an expert or anything, but pretty tasty. 

"The rest of it, though?" He shrugged. "I don't care. I do enough to make sure people stay interested in the things that matter to me. It's just a game. Played by people who are rich and bored."

"Are you rich and bored?"

He laughed a little. "Sometimes. Still beats being a king, though."

"You sure about that?"

He smiled at me and raised his glass. "I'm sure. How about you? Rich and bored?"

"Bored out of my fucking skull. I have no damn idea what to do with myself all day."

He laughed suddenly. "Now see, you I'd love to have on that Spring Festival committee. I'd just turn you loose and sit back and enjoy the chaos."

I had to laugh too. "Shit. I'd rather be boiled in oil."

"Me too, half the time. Make that about ninety percent of the time." He poured me another slug. One thing I do appreciate about Wu is that he never fusses after me. If it was Mako, or my sister, they'd be watching my wine intake and trying to figure out ways to keep me occupied in my retirement. In my sister's case, she'd hug me a lot and talk about my feelings and in Mako's case, he'd spend an hour awkwardly trying to bring up the subject only to finally blurt it out in the the most tactless way possible. Wu just gives me some more wine. And to think I once couldn't stand the man.

LoLo, on the other hand, waits until he's fucked me senseless and then cajoles whatever he wants out of me while I am at my weakest. No strings my ass. Damn the man anyhow. You'd really think I was too old to be still falling for that kind of thing. You'd also think he was too old to still be able to actually get around me that way. Not even close. Hot damn but he's good. Well, I get my own back as well. Korra would be giving his knee a once over tonight. I'd see to it, no matter how much the man squawked at me.

Meili wandered into the room, her slightly sweaty post-nap curls sticking up every which way. She was dragging along the plush Pabu that she takes with her everywhere. Without a word she made a straight line for me, crawling up into my lap and smacking her head into my chest with a resounding thud. Ooof. She's got a hard head, that kid.

"What am I, your own personal cushion or something? Who said you could sit here?" She ignored me. "Come on, wake up, sleepyhead." Mind you, I only put my arms around her because it was more comfortable to keep her in place than having her slowly slide down my torso.

Wu shook his head. "Just like her father. It always takes him at least two cups of tea before he's fit for human company." Suddenly he got up and flung open the window to the backyard. "Yaozhi, you get out of that tree this instant! Right now, mister, I am not kidding around!" He glared, and waited. "And stay out of it, too." He shut the window. "I know that he'll never fall, but if San follows him up and tumbles out of that tree Opal will have my head." He sat back down. "So, your sister after you to move down to Zaofu again?"

"How did you know that?"

He shot me a look. "We were down there last month visiting, remember? I've got ears, you know."

"Zaofu's a beautiful place to visit, but I can't imagine living there. I'd be even more bored than I am now. Not to mention Su is always going on and on about her grandchildren. If I had wanted grandchildren, I would have had them."

He looked pointedly at Meili, who was snuggling up to me, her middle and ring fingers getting a good workout in her mouth. "Uh huh."

"Go fu-...fool yourself, Wu."

He grinned. "I'll get right on that."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself. Everyone keeps telling me to relax and enjoy my retirement. I did that. It was good for about a week. It's been a year now. I'm going stir-crazy."

He topped up my glass. Meili sat up a little bit and leaned towards it. "No, this is mine. Not for small fry."

"If you're thirsty go and ask LoLo for some water."

She scowled at her father and thumped her head back on my chest.

"You're like Mako. The only way you feel happy is if you feel useful. So do something useful."

"Well, isn't that just the brightest idea I've ever heard. I've spent my entire life being useful. I thought I was supposed to quit all that when I retired."

He took a swallow of his wine. "You quit being a cop when you retired. What does that have to do with being useful?"

I thought about that for a bit. I caught myself stroking the baby's curls with my free hand. I was going to stop, but it helped me think.

"Being a cop is all I know."

He waved that off. "Leave the whole fighting crime part of it out of it. Also the part where you are in charge of an entire police force. Or put criminals in prison. Tell me, why did you become a cop in the first place?"

"Well, I was hoping to please my mother. Didn't work, mind you, but that was the idea."

"Fair enough. But pleasing your mother aside, what was the part of it that didn't make you want to go home every night and drink yourself into oblivion?"

I gave him a hard look. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'm married to a cop, remember? You think I don't see what happens there? You think I don't know?"

I thought for a moment. "Well. I liked the idea of helping people, I suppose. The parts where I knew I was actually doing some good for someone. Not the city in general, but an individual. Helping steer a kid in the right direction. That kind of thing."

He was quiet for awhile, and then he nodded. "Tomorrow. I'll be working with the street kids all afternoon. You're coming with me."

"Oh I am, am I?"

He smiled. "Well, I could use you. More importantly, they could use you. I'm pretty sure you could use them, as well."

"Are you moralizing at me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Very tiresome, morals. I'm spoiled and dissolute, remember?"

I snorted at him. "Suppose I do go with you. _Suppose_ , mind you. I haven't made up my mind. Suppose I do. Then what?"

He shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"It's been brought to my attention. Extensively." He did that thing where he waggles both of his eyebrows. "I better pull those children inside so they can wash before dinner.  I'm not sure how San can collect that much dirt on his person, but I do swear he brings in half of the backyard with him."

"Earthbender thing."

"I'll take your word on it." He walked out of the room, leaving me with his youngest. Who held up that tattered Pabu.

"Pabu," she said, thrusting it at my lips. She got me with it before I could move away. Spirits knew what the hell was on that nasty thing. Ugh.

Wu does do some good with his charity. I needle the shit out of him, of course, but I'm aware that he makes a difference. Damn me anyhow. It wouldn't kill me or anything to go with him. Nobody said I had to do it for the rest of my days, after all. Besides, I miss being useful. There. I said it. I do miss it. I don't miss all the crime or the late hours or the constant heartbreak of my former job. Those things I'll fully admit I don't miss. At all. But I miss being useful, I miss knowing that I'm doing something for other people. 

Fuck it. I'll do it.

I kissed the baby's forehead. "Come on, little fish. Let's go and see if we can help LoLo in the kitchen." I stood up, slung her up on my hip, took up the rest of my glass of wine and headed for the one place in the world that felt the most like home to me.


	6. A Woman Walks Into A Bar

What a fucking dump. If I had ever needed a reason not to retire to the pastoral countryside, this armpit of a town would have given me one. All it needed were some pickens walking into the bar where I was sitting and it would have hit every stereotype about an Earth Kingdom backwater that there was.

Not that there was an Earth Kingdom any longer, but you follow my point.

At least the whiskey was imported. I'll give them that much. And the glass was clean. Okay, okay, fair's fair. The whole place was clean. And I hadn't seen any livestock yet.

I was wondering if the guy was ever going to show when the door opened and a mountain of a man ambled in the door. Spirits! Look at the size of him! He had to duck to get in the door, and practically come in sideways to fit his shoulders through as well. That had to be the guy. Taller than Tenzin, which was saying something. He was big enough that he could have given Tonraq a run for his yuan. _Damn._

He looked around the place, spotted me, and came forward with a friendly smile. "You Lin Beifong?" he asked, in a surprising tenor.

"That's me," I said, and had my hand completely enveloped in a handshake that felt like it could have just as easily thrown me out the window.

"I'm Po," he said. "Good to meetchya." He motioned over to one of the tables, and I took my glass off the bar with me. He settled down in the chair with an audible creak. "So, all the way from Republic City, eh?"

I nodded. "Yep."

He nodded as well, and when the waitress walked over, gave her another smile. "Hey there, Fan. A beer for me is fine, thanks."

He moved with a considerable amount of fluidity and grace, despite all of his truly astounding bulk. Typical northwesterner; sandy skin and dark green eyes, black hair that had mostly gone to iron now. Still good-looking, even in what I'm thinking would be his mid-fifties somewhere. Same age as LoLo, I'd guess, or close enough.

Didn't look a damn thing like me, but then again everyone who had ever known her always told me how much I resembled my maternal grandmother, Poppy. On second thought, I take that back. I recognized those cheekbones. Someone had once told me that I had two blades for cheekbones; well, so did he. High and sharp, those cheekbones, and I'd always wondered if they came from the paternal side. Well. Guess I just got my answer, then, didn't I?

This whole thing was Wu's fault. I'd had a little too much wine one night and got all maudlin about my unknown father and he'd said nothing at the time, typical Wu, but three months later out of nowhere he handed me an envelope and told me that it had information about my father in it and I could either open it or throw it away, my choice. My choice! That little shit! He damn well knew that I'd never be able to actually throw it away. I alternately moped and snarled about it for a few days until LoLo had finally had it with me and just opened it himself and read it to me. And here I was. In a bar. In some shit-kicker town. Far enough north that I was going to have to spend the night upstairs in the very colorfully named Gopher Bear Tavern and Lodge. I am going to kill Wu. 

"So you wanted to know about my Dad, Kanto?" Po asked. The waitress brought him his beer and he took a deep draught. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Well, I've been doing some research on some of my mother's old students, and someone said your Dad might have been one?"

He nodded. "Toph Beifong, right? Sure, we all know who she was. You'd have to live under a rock not to know who she was, right? She had a metalbending school?"

"Yeah, for awhile there. She gave it up to become the police chief of Republic City."

"Sure, right. Well, lessee. My Dad never did get much in the way of formal earthbending schooling. No training like he would have gotten with your mother or anything, but my entire family's been earthbenders so long as we know. All four of my grandparents were earthbenders, my wife too, as it happens. Dad turned out to be a farmer, just like my grandfather was. Always been a good living for earthbenders, farming. Don't know about metalbending, never tried it myself, but my sister's oldest boy learned how to do it. He lives down in Ba Sing Se now, has a job with the public works department."

"So your Dad didn't attend her Academy?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so. He was pretty young when he left here. Got the idea in his head that he wanted to do a little traveling. I don't know, that would have been what, about 118, I guess? He was born at the turn of the century himself, year 100. He always said it was easier to keep track of his birth year that way." He grinned.

Oh, spirits. I was born in 120. Way to rob that cradle, Mom. He would have been about twelve years her junior. Not that I don't have a few years on LoLo, but he's not nineteen years old, either.

"Anyhow, he traveled around for a couple of years, got back here around 120 or 121, I suppose. Pretty wild for an earthbender, we tend to stay put, don't we? Always said that what he learned on his travels was that there was no place like home. I don't think he cared for the city much. Met my mother a few years later - she was born in the next village over - and then I came along in 129 and my sister in 132. My sister died a few years back, though. Nothing the healers could do for her."

"I'm sorry to hear it." I was sorry, too. I would have liked to have met her.

"Thanks. I miss her. It's a good thing to have siblings. You have any?"

"Yeah, a younger sister."

"Oh sure, right! Of course. Metal clan, right?"

"That's right."

"You got any kids?"

"Nope. Never did."

"Ah. Well, everyone's different. I've got three of them, all girls. Couple of grandkids, too, and another one on the way. I do enjoy being a grandpa. My Dad did too. He spoiled my girls terribly. Used to take them for ice cream." He smiled again.

I felt a pang through that old hunk of rock I called a heart. I'd taken the kids for an ice cream just before I left the city to come up here. When I'd checked into my room upstairs and opened my bag to freshen up a bit before coming to meet Po I found a letter from Zhi, carefully detailing a history of the area as well as salient points of interest. (I was supposed to go and see a rock formation that looked like the head of a flying fishopotomus on the south end of town and report back to him about whether or not it lived up to the hype.) Naoki had scrawled a note telling me to have fun and to not forget to bring her back a present. The one that had made me sit down on the bed and have a little cry, though, was the tattered Pabu, lovingly and carefully stowed. No note attached; Meili was still only three, and unlike Zhi at that age she wasn't reading or writing yet. But I knew her giving me Pabu was her own way of making sure I wasn't going to be lonely so far away from home. I don't think that child has ever spent a night without that toy; it was Wu's and had gone through Naoki and Zhi both until being passed down to her. It was a genuine sacrifice on her part. Spirits, but I loved that little girl. Well, I loved all three of them. I'm not ashamed to say it, either. They are good kids.

"Pretty fond of ice cream myself," I said, hauling myself back into the conversation.

"Hey, I didn't know if you'd be interested or not, but I brought a photo. Want to see it?"

"Sure," I said, and he dug a framed photo out of his pocket and handed it over. 

"Nature calls, if you catch my drift. Excuse me, I'll be back in a moment." He finished the rest of his beer in one swallow and made his way towards the back of the pub.

I looked down at the photograph. It showed a handsome young man, clearly as enormous as his son. Same friendly grin at the photographer. It was a posed studio picture; the spindly chair he was perched on looked like it was going to crumple at any moment underneath him. I could see some of myself in him. The cheekbones were exactly the same, and yes, there was the line of my own stubborn jaw reflected back at me. His hair curled the same way mine always had as well. Mom's hair had always been as straight as a board. Spirits know it explained my build. Mom always was, for all of her power, a very petite woman. Su was nearly as tall as me, but had a slender and willowy build. I had always been a big girl - tall and big-boned, generous hips and breasts and bigger shoulders than most men I knew. I usually dwarfed most other women. This would explain it. I assume his sister - my half-sister, just as much as Su was, _shit_ \- had probably been a big woman as well.

Po sat down next to me again.

"So," he said. "You're the daughter, right?"

"Excuse me?" I said.

He looked at me steadily. "When we were adults Dad told my sister Yanyu and me that we had an older half-sister in Republic City." He snorted and shook his head, and my jaw dropped. "Never bothered to mention it was Toph Beifong, though. Spirits! He left that part out."

"You knew?" I said. I downed most of my drink.

"Well, I wondered until I walked in and saw you. Spirits, you remind me of Yan. Not your entire face - you must take after your mother as well - but when I saw you sitting there at the bar, just the side of your face there, it was like Yan had come back from the grave. You've got our family's cheekbones, for sure." He smiled, and ran his finger across his own cheekbones. "Yan had the same build, same sort of hair as you, even. Took up the whole room, just like you do. What they call presence, I guess. Damn me, but I'm sorry she isn't here to meet you. She always hated being the biggest woman in any given room."

"Never liked it much myself," I said, and found myself smiling back at him.

"So. Lin Beifong. Of the very famous Beifongs. Well, what do you know?"

"Small damn world," I said.

We both sat there in silence for a bit, looking at the picture of his father. _Our_ father. He glanced up at me and flashed that friendly smile again.

"Well. So. You think you might like to come home with me? Meet my wife? Your nieces?" His smile went a little sly. "You might want to even meet your father."

I just stared at him.

"Yeah, the old man's still with us, believe it or not. I didn't say anything to him when your letter arrived, I didn't want to get him worked up over nothing."

"Shit," I said. I probably should have said something a little more genteel, but well, it just popped right out.

"I know he'd like to meet you. His mind wanders a bit nowadays, I have to warn you. But for the most part he's still pretty sharp. I think he's always thought about you, you know. Like I said, he never mentioned who your mother was. But he told us that he had a daughter from his time in Republic City and that things didn't work out. Yan and I always talked about wanting to find you, but since he's always refused to tell us your mother's name we had no real way of going about it."

I looked down at my glass. "I think...I think I'd like that. To meet everyone, that is." I shook my head at him. "I have to warn _you_ , I'm kind of a foul-tempered old bitch, though."

He laughed outright. "You should have met Yanyu. Took a pretty hardy man who could stand the backlash of her tongue. Sharp as thorns, Yan. Damn me, but I'm sorry she's not here now to meet you. She burned through every man in this village until a new teacher showed up one day at our local school. Only man who could ever out talk her. He's still here, with their younger boy, he's a teacher too. I know they'd like to meet you as well."

I finished the rest of my drink. "I told you I never had kids, and that's true. Never married, either, although I've been seeing someone for a few years now. I sort of have grandkids, though. Not officially or anything. Met their father when he was in his late teens, he was a street kid. An orphan. I never raised him or anything, mind you, but he came to work for me. I was the Police Chief there for awhile before I retired, like my mother was. Anyhow, he and his husband, they've got three kids. Not officially mine, you follow."

He smiled. "I follow."

"Still, though."

"Family's family," he said seriously. "That's how we've always seen it in my family. _Our_ family. It's not just about blood. Be real nice if you brought your family on up for a visit. The someone you're seeing as well as your boy and his husband and the grandkids. I'd sure like to meet them. My wife and the girls would as well, I know. Not to mention Dad."

"Yeah. I should give you a little warning, though. The husband?" I shot him a look. "Well. He's the former king of the Earth Kingdom."

His eyes widened and he sat back. "You're telling me you're the mother-in-law of _Hou-Ting_?"

I started to laugh. "Well, shit. I guess that's what I'm saying. Never really put it that way, but I guess so, yeah." I waved a hand in the air. "Never really used the words _mother-in-law_ or _grandmother_ before."

"How about sister? Used that word before?"

"With Su. My other sister. Half-sister, but we've never bothered much with the whole half thing."

"Think you could manage the word brother?"

I smiled at him. "I think I could manage that, yeah."

He stood up and held out his arm for me. "Well then, sister. Let me take you to meet the rest of your family."

 

We walked from the bar over to his home. It's a small village. I can't imagine - wouldn't everyone be up in your business all of the time? That would drive me absolutely fucking crazy. Po's neighbors weren't even trying to pretend they weren't interested. We were hailed by someone from nearly every house we passed. Po waved in a friendly manner and responded, but he didn't satisfy anyone's curiosity as to who I was, which I appreciated.

"My place is about a five minute walk down the road, here," he said. It was a nice day for a walk, that much I'll say. Suddenly, a whirlwind approached us and as it got closer revealed itself into a fairly grimy girl with two missing front teeth.

"Gramps!" said the whirlwind. "Is it her? Is that the lady from Republic City?"

"It's her all right," he replied. "Lin, this is my granddaughter, Jing. Jing, this is Lin."

I got a little bow from her, and I bowed back.

"You're really pretty," said the girl, and I felt myself heating up a bit. I don't usually get called pretty. Probably something she says out of politeness, but even still. Caught me by surprise.

"Honey, run on back home and tell Gramma that we're on the way, would you? Tell her that Lin here is the right lady."

"What does that mean, the right lady?"

He smiled. "Gramma will know. Now run along with you! I know you can make it there lickity-split!"

"Faster than anybody!" the girl shouted, and threw herself back down the road.

"She's a great kid," he said. "She's my oldest girl, Hyun's, oldest." He laughed suddenly. "Not that anybody expects you to keep them all straight at first. My oldest and youngest girls are both married and have kids, and of course there's Yan's widower, Bao, and their two boys. There's a whole pack of us, and we're pretty noisy, I have to tell you."

"Things get fairly noisy at home, too," I said. It's true. It never used to be true - it used to be that I went home in silence. But now there's Wu and Mako's house, and Wei's still in Republic City pro-bending and he stops by, and you never know when Huan - usually with Ikki, but sometimes not, the two of them had their own thing going - would show up, and now that Zaofu was an easy train ride away I'd see Su and Baatar more often, and of course Opal and Bolin and their kids are usually around as well. I went from having no family at all to having a big extended family.

I'm not sorry. In case you were wondering.

We approached a pretty little house at the end of the lane. There were brightly colored flowers planted in neat boxes as well as trees and some decorative shrubbery in the front yard. It was very well kept up and looked cheerful and comfortable. "This is the house Yan and I grew up in," he said. "My mother passed about twenty years ago. I've always been happy here, and Xiang was happy to move in as well. Took up farming, just like Dad did." He pointed into the distance, towards several large orchards of trees that were heavy with fruit. "Fruit farming, you see. Apples, mostly, although my wife has had some pretty good luck with berry bushes as well."

The front door opened and a very round middle-aged woman came out. "Oh, you must be Lin. Oh, welcome! Welcome to our home!" She hustled down the front steps to throw her arms around me, kissing me on the cheek. "I'm so glad you came to find us! Po here has always wanted to meet you, I'm just so sorry Yan's not here to meet you as well." She beamed at me. "My goodness gracious me, aren't you just lovely! So elegant, my word. We're so behind the fashion up here but you look just like something from a magazine."

I was suddenly very glad that Wu had insisted on taking me clothes shopping before I came up here. Now there's something I never thought I'd say.

"Sweetheart, this is my sister, Lin. Lin, this is my wife, Xiang."

"Well, my goodness, you silly old thing, of course I realize she's your sister." She laughed. "As if she doesn't remind me of Yan! Oh dear, you must forgive me for chattering on so, but truly, we're so very glad to have you here."  She turned to her husband. "Dad is in the back garden, Po, if you want to take her back there. We'll let you have some peace and quiet for it." Another smile at me. "Our girls are all inside, waiting to meet you. I hope you'll have dinner with us tonight!"

"I'd be happy to," I said, and I meant it.

"I promise we'll try not to all talk at once," she laughed. I found myself smiling back at her. 

Po gestured me around the back of the house. "Dad enjoys gardening still," he said quietly. "The flowers in the front are all his, and most of the garden here in the back. It's something to see in the spring, believe me." He put a hand to the small of my back and gently escorted me through to an absolutely lovely garden. I don't know much about flowers and such, but I know when something looks nice, and this looked nice. There was even a koi pond. I'd have to tell Wu, the man was infatuated with koi.

There was a gazebo at the other end of the garden and next to it was a man on his knees, trowel in hand. Even stooped a bit with age he was clearly a big and powerful man. He must have just dwarfed my mother. What had appealed, I wonder? He had been so young, from such a different background. These seemed to be good people - damn good people - but they were clearly village farmers. Nothing compared to my mother's aristocratic background, no matter how much she'd tried to repudiate it. Toph Beifong. A mystery still. I don't think we ever really understood each other. Su always did understand her better than I did, but I think I was a mystery to her as well, quite frankly. She was always after me for being too emotional, too high-strung, feeling too much - I never did figure out how not to give a shit the way she could. Spirits know I'd tried. Oh, I could act like I didn't give a shit, but acting was all it ever was.

"Dad?" called Po. "Dad, there's someone here to see you."

"Oh?" he said, and then pulled himself up stiffly, taking off his gardening gloves and putting them and the trowel down on a little bench. "Well, now, who's come to see me?" He turned with that same friendly smile on his face. He smiled at me for just a moment; then his smile faltered. He took two steps forward and stopped, his hand going up to his mouth. "Is it...it can't be. It _can't_ be." He stepped even closer until he was right in front of me. "Is it little Lin?" His eyes filled with tears.

My eyes filled with tears as well. "I'm Lin," I found myself saying, like a child would, and then his arms were around me. He held me tightly, weeping freely.

 

Blind people frequently communicate through touch. My mother was like that with both Su and me - patting, rough hugs, tactile reassurance that we were there, despite the fact that she could always use her seismic sense to find us. Su and I touched a lot when we were growing up, despite our differences. It wasn't uncommon, now that we saw each other often, for us to entwine arms as we walked, or press our legs together when sitting, or to give each other pats of reassurance. I noticed right away that Su was very physically demonstrative with both her husband and children. I'd been cut off from all of that for years, however. Years! Tenzin and I had made love, of course, but he'd never been particularly touchy-feely that way, or at least not with me. After we'd broken up I lived without being touched and it left me so desperately lonely. It wasn't until Wu had come along - the man put his hands all over everyone - and then LoLo and the children that I'd been touched in any way at all. (Mako and I still weren't all that comfortable with it, but we occasionally managed pats and once we'd hugged, although it took us weeks to get over it, I think.)

My father held me close, though, crying softly into my ear, rocking me back and forth. I threw my arms around him as well. He was so large I couldn't get my arms completely around him. He finally pulled away a bit, and we both glanced over at Po, who was wiping his own eyes on his sleeves.

I had to mop up my own eyes. "How did you know it was me?" I asked, when I thought I'd have my voice back. My voice was still pretty shaky.

He smiled at me, and then reached into his tunic, pulling out a silver chain. At the end of it was a fairly large and unadorned silver locket. Not the kind of thing you'd usually see a man wearing. He carefully opened it and held it out for me to see. Inside was a photograph of me. I was probably about three or four, I'd guess; the same age or a little older than Meili was now. I was staring solemnly at the photographer, posed stiffly in elaborate robes. There was a comb with ribbons and flowers in my hair. Where on earth had the comb come from? My mother certainly never did anything like that with my hair, at least not in my memory. It was me, though.

"Your maternal grandmother sent me this," he said. "I'm still not sure how she knew where to find me. She let me know that you were doing fine. Nothing else, really. I never heard from her again." He reached out with his free hand and smoothed down my hair. "I don't even know what to say to you. Over sixty years I've thought about what I would ever say to you if I saw you. Here you are, and I have no idea what to say." He closed the locket back up and put it back inside his tunic. "I heard your mother passed a few years back. I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his own hair, standing it on end and laughed a little. "You must have a million questions."

I nodded. I didn't really trust myself to speak.

"Here, come and sit with me for a bit," he said, gesturing to the gazebo. "You too, Po. Oh, I'm just so sorry Yan isn't here." His eyes filled up again. "Ah, never mind an old man his tears. Seems they come more often than not nowadays." We all three of us sat down. He was quiet for a few moments, and then he started to speak. He took my hand in his.

"I had heard of your mother's Academy, even up here. I wanted nothing more than to learn about metalbending. You have to understand, she was the first person to do it, and the news spread like wildfire amongst earthbenders. It was all so new. It was all I could talk about, but my father - your grandfather - told me to never mind, there was plenty to do here on the farm with the same kind of earthbending we'd done for generations. Finally, though, I packed a bag and headed down south. Well, I was young. Full of adventure. Anyhow, by the time I found her your mother had pretty much given up the Academy, she was working with the Avatar and the Firelord, building up Republic City. She didn't want anything to do with me, and told me so, right to my face." He laughed. "Well, I'm sure I don't need to tell _you_."

I had to smile at that. "No, you really don't."

"I'll admit to you, though, she was something else. I'd never met anyone like her before. Very powerful woman, your mother, and she was in her prime then. I couldn't believe the kind of bending she had, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. I followed her around like a turtleduck chick. Finally her friend - oh, what was her name, nice woman, very nice woman, waterbender, the Avatar's wife-"

"Katara," I supplied.

"Yes, that was her. Anyhow, she scolded your mother a bit, told her to at least give me a day of her time, seeing as I had come all that way. So your mother did. Oh, it was a joke, my own earthbending skills were nothing compared to hers, like comparing a gnat to a badgermole. But she threw rocks at me for a day, and at the end of it she put her hands on me and just climbed me like a tree." He ducked his head with a bit of a rueful expression. "Well, never mind all of that, the two of you can guess what happened then without me telling you in detail."

Po laughed. "Reckon we can, Dad." He winked at me.

"I was wild about her. You can just imagine. She tolerated me - still don't know why, to tell you the truth. I was nineteen and a country boy, the opposite of everything she was. We had some good times, though. Kept at it for a couple of months, and then she came up pregnant. I was so wet behind the ears it never even occurred to me we should be doing something about that. Ah, she was my first. She was pretty patient with me, now that I look back on it. I didn't know my ass from an armadillo lion in those days."

That got a laugh out of both Po and me.

"In any case, I was terrified when she told me. I was young, I was stupid. I hated the city, you know. Couldn't stand it, the noise, the chaos, the crowds. Everything was being built then, it was just a mess. I missed home - the only reason I was still there at that point was because of her. I didn't know what to do. So I asked her to marry me, because well, that's what you were supposed to do, right? She laughed in my face and told me exactly why that wasn't going to happen."

I winced. Well, that sounded like the Toph Beifong I had known and loved.

"I dithered around, and then your grandfather showed up. Don't ask me how he found out she was pregnant, I have no idea. But he came to me and told me in no uncertain terms why his daughter, an aristocrat, was not going to marry some dirt farmer from up north. Oh, he really laid it out for me, all of my shortcomings. Ah, he was cruel with it, and I was young enough to be crushed by it. Not a very pleasant man, your grandfather. I'm sorry to have to say it, Lin."

"No, he really wasn't," I said. "No apology needed."

"He offered me money. I told him exactly what he could do with that. I didn't want his filthy money. He made it sound like that was my plan from the start, you know, that I had taken up with your mother and gotten her pregnant just to get money out of him. Oh, that made me angry, I have to say. Anyhow, long story short, Toph told me that she didn't need me in order to raise a child and I left in an angry huff." He sighed. "I regret it. Oh, it's not that I think your mother and I would have ever made a couple, Lin. We wouldn't have. We weren't a match that way. It wasn't like it was with Po's mother. I was infatuated with your mother, but I never did love her and she didn't love me. I hope I'm not hurting you with that." He looked down at me a little anxiously.

I squeezed his hand. "No, it's not hurting me." It wasn't. If anything, it made me feel better to know that no one's heart had gotten broken over it. Well. Besides mine.

"I regret leaving before you were born, though. I've always regretted it. But I was hurt and angry, so I left Republic City. I did a bit more traveling and by the time I got back here you were already born. There was a letter waiting here for me telling me that you were a girl and she'd named you Lin and that you were healthy. I was glad of that, I tell you." He sighed. "I thought about you a lot. I wondered what I should do. I knew your mother wasn't going to be hurting for money or anything, your grandparents were rich. You weren't wanting for money, were you, growing up?"

I smiled. "No. We weren't."

"I still felt bad that I had never even seen you, though. I was your father, after all. So when you were about three years old I sat down and wrote a letter to your mother. Oh, I knew she couldn't read it but I figured someone would read it to her. I told her that I wanted to see you, that I wanted you to know me. That I wanted to know you. I didn't hear anything back. I sent a few more, but never got a reply. Then when you were about four years old the letter arrived from your grandmother with the photograph. She told me that your mother didn't want anything to do with me, and I believed her at the time. Now though...well, I don't know if it was true or not."

"I don't know either," I said. "My mother never talked about you. _Never._ I didn't even know your name until about ten years ago. And your name was all I knew. She never did tell me anything else, not where you came from, not a damn thing. She point blank refused whenever I asked."

He sighed. "Well. Time passed. I met my wife - Po and Yan's mother - and I did fall in love with her. I told her about you, of course. And I don't know, time just kept going, and then Po was born, and then Yan...same thing that happens to all of us, I suppose. Life happens. I thought about you often. I often thought about trying to look you up, especially when you were an adult. But I thought...what if it would do more harm than good? What if Toph's gotten married and told the girl someone else was her father? Or who knows what. I don't know. I've always regretted it. Terribly." He took both of my hands in his and brought them up to his lips and kissed them. "I am so glad you've come. So glad." The tears started to spill down his face. "Ah, here I go again."

I wrapped my arms around him. He kissed my temple. "So tell me, little Lin. Did you ever marry? Have kids? Do I have any more grandchildren?"

"I never married, never had kids," I said. "I retired a few years back as the chief of police of Republic City. Same job that my mother had."

"Ah," he said, and looked a little wistful. "I'm guessing you metalbend? I'm certain you must be an earthbender."

I nodded. "Earthbender and metalbender both. I've got a younger half-sister who's a metalbender as well."

"The Metal Clan, Dad. You know, down in Zaofu?" Po threw in.

Kanto - well, my father, I guess I should say - thought for a moment. "Oh! She's a Beifong, isn't she? So that's your sister? I always figured she must have been related somehow, with that name."

"Yes. And for the record, she doesn't know who her father is either."

"Not me!" he said, throwing his hands up in the air and laughing. Po and I laughed along with him. I reached into my bag.

"I do have a family of sorts, though. I was telling Po earlier. I brought a picture, it's pretty recent." I handed the photograph to my father. It had just been taken, in fact; Wu's birthday was coming up next month and he had said that all he wanted as a gift was a nice photo of all of us. There we all were, dressed in our best. LoLo and Wu standing in the back, with Qi in between them. (Qi wouldn't smile for the photo, but at Wu's cajoling at least didn't look surly.) Mako and I were seated in the front - Mako in front of Wu, me in front of LoLo - with Meili on my lap and Naoki to the other side of Mako and Zhi in between us, standing in front of Qi. 

I told him who everyone was. Not surprisingly, he expressed great deal of curiosity about Wu. I forget sometimes that a huge chunk of the known world still thinks of him as a king, even if he's an abdicated one. Hard to think of him as a king when he's gossiping over a glass of wine or braiding up Naoki's hair or sitting at the kitchen table with me shelling peas for LoLo, though. For us he's just Wu.

Suddenly a head popped out the back door of the house. It belonged to a woman in her mid-twenties, I'd guess. She was grinning. "Grandad! Dad! Stop hogging Aunt Lin over there! Some of us would like to meet her as well!" She laughed. 

Po smiled. "That's your niece, Nari," he said. "My youngest girl. Not graced with a lot of patience."

"Patience! Ha! We're all here, and we've been waiting very patiently, may I add!" She laughed and came out the door into the garden, followed by two other young women who were her sisters, two young husbands, her mother, a tall man around Po's age followed by an equally tall young man (my nephew Konu, apparently) and a few children, including the whirlwind I had met on the road. I was hugged, patted, complimented, fed and watered. This was a happy family. A joyous family. Dinner was held outside in the garden on a large table, cooked by Xiang and her middle daughter, Bora. There was no real comparing it to what Su had in Zaofu - these people were not wealthy, although they clearly were not wanting. No sophistication, no gourmet meals, no exquisite architecture, no priceless art. But they were happy to see me, and my father - my father! - sat next to me at dinner and kept patting me on the knee and smiling. My nieces and nephew oohed and aahed over the photograph (Mako was determined to be handsome; they were suitably impressed by Wu and Xiang made a few sassy comments about firebender prowess in bed, which I got fairly sassy about in return, surprising myself a little in the process) and I promised that I would bring everyone up for a visit. I know LoLo would come in a heartbeat and of course Wu would be nothing but completely thrilled to walk through this village. I know Wu well enough by now to know that by the time he left he'd know everyone on a first name basis not to mention every piece of gossip for the past fifty years. Little Jing the whirlwind was practically jumping up and down in excitement at the idea of more cousins to play with.

I had brought Wu and Mako's camera with me and I asked if I could take a photograph of everyone to share back home. Nari went and fetched a neighbor to take the photo for us so that we could all get into the shot. Between the neighbor trying to figure out how to operate the damn thing (I still wasn't very good at it myself, but luckily my nephew Konu seemed to have some knowledge as to how they worked) and trying to get everyone into a single shot we had about an hour of shuffling and laughing before the shutter was even clicked. I ended up sitting next to my father and had a toddler in my lap. My great-nephew. Obviously it's how I'm to be depicted in all family photographs: Lin Beifong, wrangler of toddlers. 

I stayed late into the night. The children had all dropped off to sleep and my father had been dozing off for some time at that point, waking up every once in awhile to pat me or hug me, always with that happy smile. Finally I said that I should be getting back to my room. Xiang hugged me and made me promise to come back the next morning before my train left for Republic City and Po stood up to walk me back. I told him it wasn't necessary but he just smiled at me and told me that he'd done without me for fifty some-odd years and would take as much of me as he could. The stars were out and glittering in the sky as we walked the five minutes back into the town center. I couldn't get over the stars. You can't see them like that in the city. Po had given me his arm and we strolled back, taking our time. I told him I was under strict orders to go and see the flying fishopotomus rock and he promised to take me to see it the next day. We talked about his - no, _our_ \- sister, and even a little bit about Su and her family as well. He told me about his mother. I'm truly glad to know my father found love and happiness in his life. I don't think my mother ever managed it, and it makes me feel sad.

Oh, Mom. Why? Why did she do the things she did? I guess I'll never know.

He hugged me when he left me at the tavern, kissed me on both cheeks and told me once again how glad he was that I had come. I don't think I've ever been kissed in my entire life the amount of times I'd been kissed in the past few hours. This was obviously an affectionate family. Wu and Meili were going to adore them. I would bring everyone up soon. Xiang had made me promise that the next time I came up I'd stay with them at the house. I looked forward to it.

_Don't wait on fate, Lin, because fate is now_ , my mother told me the last time I spoke to her, just a few weeks before she died. She'd come out of that swamp for the last time to Zaofu. She'd asked Su to radio me and I'd caught the next train down to see her. She sat with Su and me outside Su's house, cross-legged in the dirt and talked to us both about life and about death as well. _Make this easy, it's not as heavy as it seems,_ she said, and I felt my usual frustration and irritation with her. I wasn't ready to listen and I surely wasn't ready to let her go. But I think I finally understand what she meant by all of it.

Tomorrow I will visit with my family here, and then I will take the train home. I will go and kiss the man I love - I do love him, I do, I won't be afraid to tell him so, not after all these years - and I will kiss those children who are as much my grandchildren as Su's grandchildren are hers. I will give Wu a kiss and then I will take Mako aside and tell him how much he means to me. I'll be uncomfortable and so will he, but I need him to know. I need him to hear it, and he needs to hear it as well. I don't want to wait any longer. Fate is now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look what we have here! Wu's birthday photo, complete with the whole family! Fanart from Keelan_66, and it's gorgeous. The original post is on [Tumblr.](http://keelan-666.tumblr.com/post/115853181064/for-ourimpavidheroine-a-sketch-of-the-wuko-family)


End file.
